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Overview

A tortoise goes out singing, attracting a falcon that lifts her into the air and drops her. Dying from the fall, she speaks about the fatal consequences of failing to keep one’s mouth shut. A man hears her, marvels that tortoises can speak, and carries her to the king as a talking animal. The narrator identifies her speech as that of the dying tortoise; she is not a reliably performing court curiosity.

Before the king, the man repeatedly asks the tortoise to reproduce what she said outdoors. She remains silent. The king treats the failed demonstration as an attempt to make a fool of him and orders the man beheaded. Thus the human listener meets a second fatal consequence of speech: he reports a marvel he cannot prove on demand. The account ends with his execution, without reviving the tortoise or giving her further dialogue.

Song attracts predatorSpeech while dyingSilence before the kingFailed demonstration
01

Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 31, complete German pp. 193. Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Leipzig recording context, Preface v–vi.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German tale 31 and surrounding headings read in the retained original-edition OCR. Original Tashelhit and German translation are printed separately; no independent translation of the Tashelhit is claimed.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt

    Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Hans Stumme, recorder and German translator · 1895

    Tale 31, complete German pp. 193; Preface v–vi identifies the contributor and recording context.

Family & connections

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References

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  1. Primary collected narrative with German translationOriginal bilingual collection, tale 31Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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