The Tortoise Who Outsmarted the Moran

A group of young moran were bored and decided to have some fun with an old Tortoise. They picked him up and said, "We are going to throw you into the river!" The Tortoise, who was an excellent swimmer, pretended to be terrified. "Oh, please no!" he cried. "Not the water! I will drown! Throw me against the hard rocks, crush me on the ground, but please, not the river!" The warriors, wanting to give him the worst possible fate, laughed at his pleas. "Into the river you go!" they shouted, and they threw him into the middle of the deep water. The Tortoise, of course, happily swam away, calling back, "Thank you, foolish warriors! You have thrown me into my own home!" The story is a classic "reverse psychology" trickster tale, common across Africa, used here to show that even the most powerful warriors can be outsmarted by a creature who understands the mind of his enemy.