I Never Believed (Sankofa Creative Competition #6)

The teen with steam for steem is back with a brilliant twist to a folktale about how the tortoise broke its back. Please upvote, resteem and comment to make me the youngest winner of the sankofa comp. Let's win together

I sat under the almond tree with the as I listened to another one of grandpa's lame fables. This time it was about the tortoise and the squirrel and it gave a lame reason why tortise has a short nose. That's all folktales and fables are really all about, giving lame explanation for stuff and teaching a moral lesson. There's even this really lame story grandpa told us about why the tortise has a bald head. Why would anyone believe the story?

I looked up and saw grandpa staring at me. I had zoned out and didn't notice the other kids leaving when he finished his story.

"You didn't listen, did you?", grandpa asked me

"I guess I'm just tired of folktales, grandpa", I replied.

"And why is that?"

"Well everyone knows they're just fictional"

"Oh really", grandpa asked surprised

"Yes sir", I said and stood up as he waved me away "Goodnight grandpa"

"Goodnight my son", he replied.

Feeling very tired and also angry that grandpa's moonlight folktale had wasted yet another one of my evenings, I went straight to bed and before long I was asleep.

I woke up the next day and I walked out of my room to greet grandpa who was always in the living room in the morning. To my surprise I found myself in a thick forest. I looked behind me, my room was gone.

I walked forward and saw a tortoise walking on two legs like the Ijapa grandpa always talked about.

Startled at this sight, I screamed only to find this strange tortise screaming too
"Please, don't kill me", it cried.

"A talking tortoise?", I thought to myself.

"You won't hurt me right?", it asked, snapping me back into reality.

"I guess", I replied, still in awe.

"My name is Ijapa", the tortoise told me smiling.

"My name is Jeremy", I said and before I could add that I was lost, Ijapa said "if you don't mind, I have somewhere to go" and scurried away.

"Wait! I have nowhere to go!", I said running after him.

I followed after him and when I finally caught up with him, I found him talking to some birds to lend him wings to go to a really cool party in the eagle's nest. After begging and begging, they agreed. Ijapa then said to them,
"When we get there, my name is no longer ijapa but all of you"

As they all laughed at this name Ijapa had given himself, I walked out of the bush I was hiding in and suddenly the laughter ceased. The animals were surprised to see an human in their midst. As they were about to attack me, Ijapa stopped them,
"He's my friend, he wont hurt us, he has no gun".

It was enough to stop them.

"I want to go to the Eagle's party too", I declared.

This was certainly amusing to them as they burst into a gale of laughter.

"But you don't have wings", an hawk said, laughing.

"You'd borrow me feathers like you are going to do for Ijapa, won't you?", I asked.

---

On the D-day, Ijapa, the birds and I got to the Eagle's nest. It was really nice to fly. We all sat on a table and as food was about to be served to our table, the waiter said "This food is for all of you".

"Hear that guys, the food is for all of you" Ijapa declared with ecstasy "That's me!".

We watched with awe and contempt, salivating as he devoured the food that should have been for all of us.

When the waiter brought the drinks, he once again said it was for "all of you" and Ijapa claimed the drinks and gobbled them down.

The party ended without the birds and I tasting anything. When it was finally time the go home, the birds who were raging with anger at not being able to eat anything collected their feathers from Ijapa and I and flew away.

We were in a fix. We would have to jump down from the eagle's nest to the ground. Ijapa volunteered to go first. As he dropped to the ground, I heard a loud thud followed by a scream. I wondered if he was alright.

I jumped from that same and landed on my bed instead of the ground. It had been a dream. Grandpa was sitting next to me. I narrated the dream. I told him I really wanted to know if Ijapa was alright. He broke the bad news to me. Ijapa had broken his back. Fortunately, the ants had helped him sew it back together and this is the reason why the tortoise has a rough shell.

It no longer sounded lame to me and from that day I began to believe in folktales, especially the ones about my good friend, Ijapa.