Grit your teeth!

Jean-Claude is walking down the road, kicking along. Suddenly he stumbles onto something. He looks down and sees a little tortoise. He carefully picks him up and puts him down onto the grass.

The tortoise stretches out his neck as far as possible. His small legs are tired of walking around, seeking the right friend. Quickly he crawls underneath a shrub.

Jean-Claude runs into his house and calls his Mommy: “Mommy, Mommy, I found a small tortoise! I put him onto the lawn. What can I give him to eat?”

Mommy quickly Googles to find the right answer. “It seems to me we can feed him any greenery with a little water. We will ask Daddy to build him a small cage where we can keep him safe. Just remember that we must allow him to walk around in the garden, because he still belongs in nature.”

Jean-Claude is very excited! He views the tortoise from all sides. It is especially his pouting lips which fascinate him. He sees how the tortoise nibbles on the grass and then swallows it. He runs quickly to put down food and water.

He runs so fast that he stumbles and falls down like a log. His knees both have grass burns! His Mommy hears his cry and runs to help him. She cleans his wounds and then comforts him.

Together they feed the tortoise. She carries the water, while Jean-Claude brings the food. He walks with a limp and still is teary. His one elbow also has a red mark, and he immediately starts crying again.

Mommy uses the tortoise to comfort him. She tells all kinds of jokes and also tells him that tortoises also even sometimes hurt. She shows a hole in the tortoise’s shell and then tells him a short story:

One day, long, long ago a Mommy Tortoise and her baby walked in the veld.

Suddenly two naughty boys with sticks in their hands, appeared. They grabbed the two tortoises and started hitting them. The smallest tortoise fell onto the ground and hit his shell against a sharp rock. The rock made a hole in his shell. He ran as quickly as possible and hid underneath a shrub.

This little tortoise bravely walked into the veld and didn’t once cry because it was choosing not to cry from being hurt and afraid. Sometimes one has to grit one’s teeth to be able to move on.

Jean-Claude wipes off the tears which are streaming over his cheeks and picks the tortoise up. He softly gives it a hug and promises to be brave, from this day onwards and to grit his teeth when he is hurt. Mommy is glad and encourages Jean-Claude to ride on his bicycle.

Pedalling and whizzing away he races down the drive way shouting at the top of his voice:

“This little tortoise and I are friends, we crawl out of our holes and are the biggest soldiers!