A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Turtle and Wallaby eat in Binama the hornbill’s garden without permission. Birds discover them; Wallaby leaps away, while Turtle is captured and left with children guarding him. He persuades them to release him for play and bring out their father’s ornaments. He wraps on shell money and armlets and fastens a wooden bowl to his back before making his escape to the sea.
Pursuing birds repeatedly call him to raise his head and throw stones. They break both armlets and the necklace, but the bowl survives every blow. Turtle escapes beyond their reach. The closing explanation says turtles still carry that bowl as their shell. These are speaking, gardening and ornament-using narrative animals, with the shell originating in an object rather than an assertion about natural evolution.
Origins & earliest records
Annie Ker, Papuan Fairy Tales (London: Macmillan, 1910), How the Turtle got his Shell, pp. 3–6.
Records & interpretation
Ker’s English collected narrative, situated within her northeast-coast mission-era collection.
In the literature
“the bowl he fastened upon his back.”
How the Turtle got his Shell, printed p.5
The captive turtle takes Binama’s wooden bowl before escaping.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Papuan Fairy Tales: How the Turtle got his Shell, pp. 3–6
Specific selected collected narrative; unnamed narrator not assigned a modern community identity.
- 02
Papuan Fairy Tales — How the Turtle got his Shell
London:Macmillan1910, title page and table of contents inspected in Wikisource scan-backed transcription. Introduction describes northeast-coast collection, mission residence, oral settings, tobacco exchanges and consultation of elders; individual narrators unnamed in these selected chapters.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Papuan Fairy Tales: How the Turtle got his Shell, pp. 3–6
London:Macmillan1910, title page and table of contents inspected in Wikisource scan-backed transcription. Introduction describes northeast-coast collection, mission residence, oral settings, tobacco exchanges and consultation of elders; individual narrators unnamed in these selected chapters.
- Turtle and Wallaby eat in Binama the hornbill’s garden. The birds discover them; Wallaby escapes but Turtle is captured. He persuades Binama’s guarding children to release him and show ornaments, then equips himself with jewellery and a wooden bowl.
- Turtle flees to the sea wearing the ornaments. Thrown stones break the armlets and necklace, but the wooden bowl withstands them. He escapes, and the narrator explains later turtles’ shells through this retained bowl.
How the Turtle got his Shell, printed pp.5–6, sea escape and shell ending
The Turtle initially proposes the garden visit yet later blames Wallaby; that self-serving account is not accepted as uncontested truth. Origin tale is not evolutionary anatomy or species identification. The children are Binama’s, not Turtle’s offspring.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrativeKer 1910: How the Turtle got his ShellResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.