When Tortoise fell and broke his shell, it was meant to show us as children that we too could break our shells if we fight against reality. Tales by moonlight is a show that ran on Nigerian television Authorities (NTA). It was created in 1984 by Victoria Ezeokoli, the Director of Programs on NTA at the time. It ended because of funding. It included different fables like
The Tortoise With A Pretty Daughter, How The Tortoise Became Bald, The Ear And The Mosquitoe, Why The Hippo Lives In The Water and my favorite, Tortoise And The Birds.
The stories helped to teach children about the character of people they could meet in real life. The most popular of all the characters was probably the Tortoise. The always cunning and scheming tortoise. The stories always ended to prove that it doesn't pay to be bad. The stories pass a message.
The story of Tortoise and the Birds began with a drought that causes hunger and suffering among the animals in the wild. The other animals like Lion suggest that they eat Ostrich and Monkey says they should swing out and immediately their suggestions are taken off the table by the animals that are most likely to be affected. We see this all the time in life, my favorite example is the hate speech bill that our president suggested but this is the role of liberals everywhere…even in the family. Sometimes people make suggestions that directly or indirectly affect you. Directly like in the case of the hate speech bill or a parent's decision to move to a new location…and some children protest when things like that happen. So, Tortoise who is the main character in this story comes up with a plan in his mind when the birds bring up the solution to go to the cloud people. But who are the cloud people? The cloud people represent some form of a higher power that provides. The last resort to fall back on. Almost everyone has a representative of this higher power that they run to in the time of need. For children, it is their parents but as we grow, we start to see the need for a higher power that transcends every drought. Because sometimes even our parents can not stand for us…so we pray. Notice also how the people are in the sky, the representative of where heaven is supposed to be.
So, Tortoise thinks that if only the birds go up to see the cloud people (the gods) only them will be blessed by the cloud people. Throughout the first chapter of Genesis, God is found to be planning and executing plans. He says a thing and they come to pass. That is why we are made in the image of God…we can plan and carry out our plans. God did and thing and saw in the end that it was good. We find at the ending of the story that Tortoise only saw what he did badly at the end of the story…so one might ask…if we are made in God's image and we can conjure evil…does that mean God can too? To me, it seems like something the old testament was saying many times..not exactly bad per se but we only got to know that God is love in the new testament. Other than that God has been the raging force of nature. Niethche a German philosopher in the mid-1800 described the difference between God in the old and new testament as an injustice….but I would like to know what you think in the comment section.
Tortoise rallies the feathers (votes) of the birds so he can be their spokesman (king) to the cloud people. That's the way it looks to my adult mind now. Also notice they said he looked silly with all the feathers on him. That's the same way I feel about pastors and politicians trying to impress people…they look silly. but eventually, they eat everyone's food.
Tortoise was a self-centered politician or pastor who just wants to feed himself. When the cloud people bring food (the answers to their prayers or funding) the tortoise eats it all. When I was told this story I always wondered why the other animals didn't just stop him. I guess it was because of the power they had given to him.
In their anger, the birds take back their feathers and the tortoise is stock in the clouds. He tells the Parrot to go tell his wife to set leaves for him to land on but instead, because Parrot is still upset, he tells his wife to leave rocks for him--- The inherent ability for those closest to us to make a bad situation worse because of communication problems.
Then the rains fell when the cloud people saw all that had happened…as if to say God showed emotions or the government finally cared for Tortoise broke his back. I still don't know totally what this means. What does it mean for the rains to pour when God cries? Or for Tortoise to break his back after getting to the clouds with all those feathers? I don't know.
It feels like the cloud people got the message that the birds and the leader of their movement (Tortoise) were saying after all.
Another lesson...and this is the obvious one...it is painful to break your back doing what you know to be wrong. That was the message back then as a child and the message even now.
So, WHAT IS THE MATTER? The answer to that question is and always has a story behind it. The matter is a story of what causes pain or challenges you in ways that you are not use to. That is why these stories MATTERED when we were children. Matter in the narrative sense is anything that is not linear. This is different from the scientific definition which is anything that has weight and occupies space. Matter in the narrative sense can be divided into two concepts.
The animals were in a state of CHAOS (the drought). This is the first concept that I wanted to explain. There is a problem and a quest begins that sets the stage for the story. It happened in the bible when God was with a world without form…without ORDER. Order is the second concept I wanted to explain. Also, some good stories begin like this…usually tragedies where everything is fine and the storyteller wants to leave a message about Danger.
The experimentalist who came after the stabilization of human societies when tribes came together to form nations governed by laws (These laws that were developed by people like Moses in the bible to bring order) were also concerned with what the matter was. However, they were not concerned with stories, they turned their interest to objects. What mattered in gold? If you split gold, you would find more gold. With modern experimentation, the concept of atoms and molecules were expanded on. It has also led to people forgetting what the matter is.