On a sunny afternoon, Tilly the turtle slowly waddled along the beach, her eyes scanning her surroundings. Everyone, including her friend Benny the butterfly, had made their way home. But Benny was nowhere to be found.
“There you are, Tilly! What are you doing down there?” mocked her other friend, Granville the seagull, who had been soaring overhead.
“Oh, Granville! Have you seen Benny?” Tilly asked, hoping her friend would have some news.
Granville shook his head. “Not since this morning. I’m flying back to my cozy nest for a nap. There’s no point in wandering around when the sun is so bright. Maybe you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.”
“But I, I said I would wait for him until he was safely home from the flower garden,” Tilly stammered, glancing towards the distant patch of colours made by the flowers. “And then we would enjoy the sunset together.”
“By the time you get to the flower garden and back here again, the sun will have set and the stars will be shining brightly in the sky,” Granville said with laughter in his voice. “Why don’t you just go home and put your little head down for a rest? He is all right, Tilly, you’ll see.”
But Tilly checked her watch. “It’s only early afternoon,” she replied, “I have plenty of time before the sun sets. I’m going to begin my journey along the beach and I’ll be back in that amount of time.”
Granville flew slowly away, shaking his head in amazement. Tilly stood tall, her chin up and her round eyes bright with purpose, before she began her long journey. Oh yes, it was going to be a long, long journey for dear Tilly.
At the beginning, the walk down the beach was not very difficult, but the further she went, the harder it became. At first, she walked comfortably on the smooth, warm sand. But the path soon became rocky, and large bits of coral stuck out of the sand making forward progress quite painful. Tilly longed to turn back for home. Can you imagine a turtle getting to the flower garden, soft, comfortable home of Benny the butterfly, after all this effort? But then she thought of Benny and how she had promised she would wait for him. Her legs and feet began to ache terribly but she kept on walking.
Suddenly, from a large rock piled with soft seaweed, a giant crab came scuttling across her path. “Keep out of my way, whatever you do, or I will certainly nip you with my sharp pincers,” he shouted at her.
“Take care, take care! That turtle looks a little sleepy. If he steps into my home over here, she won’t have her claws put out again in a hurry,” chirped a beautiful bright green hermit crab at the other end of the rock.
“Is someone following me?” Tilly asked, but the crab laughed scornfully at her.
“Feeling so sleepy that you can’t see with your own eyes? Well, look carefully, stupid turtle! I don’t want to nip you but the way you are walking, you are practically asking for it.”
Nothing could stop Tilly though—and so she plodded on. The sun sank lower and lower in the sky while her little legs went round and round. She could hardly see now. Suddenly, in a low voice just above her, she heard someone say, “This way—follow me!”
For a moment Tilly was frightened and looked up to see the face of a dried starfish. “Where are you rushing off to, in such a hurry?” asked the starfish in his low, sweet voice.
“I’m looking for my friend, Benny the butterfly,” said Tilly. “It’s beginning to get dark. Have you seen him?”
“Oh, yes,” answered the dried starfish. “He was searching for his friend, Tilly the turtle, but was told by Granville the seagull that you had already gone home for the night.”
“No, no,” urged Tilly. “Tell me—it cannot be long now before I arrive at the flower garden?”
“Not so very long,” the starfish answered. “Just keep walking straight ahead. The end of the journey is near.”
And so Tilly shuffled her way along once more. Surely the flowers could not be far away now! She soon heard somebody crying. How noisy those annoying waves on the beach were! They would never have allowed her little sharp ears to hear the voice there if it had not been so dark.
“Is that you, Benny?” clamoured Tilly, stretching her head forward. But a large cockle or clam shell replied in his hard way.
“No! yes! no! yes! It may be Tilly, and it may not be Tilly. I can’t be sure in this terrible darkness! Can I say yes, or can I say no?”
Tilly gave a little pull at her chin but only heard, “No! No! Get away from here, Miss Tilly!”
And then when the cockle or clam reflected with himself for a moment, he added, “I beg your pardon, Miss Tilly—but it is too dark for me to either see or hear. Just go and ask your friend when you find him.”
“Oh, quick,” she cried. “It cannot be far now!” And with renewed courage, she shuffled forward at great speed, one foot in front of each other. If she could only reach the warm, fragrant flower garden belonging to her friend—it grew dark, dark around her.
But suddenly a bright light shone just in front of her and she could see a thousand bumps bobbing up and down over a thousand, thousand fiery, twinkling stars. How queer it all appeared! Everything seemed turned upside down and she was nearly crying, when all of a sudden her friend Benny landed figuratively as a feather from heaven on her back.
“Slow but steady wins the race,” he repeated and flew off laughing, his wings like little rainbows shimmering at his sides.
And now, oh, now how fragrant the flowers were and how they shone! While the last rosy glow of the sunset kissed warm winds about Black Skimmer Beach, and Tilly took a rest beneath the midst blossom!