The Turtle Who Wanted to Fly Among the Clouds

Along the banks of a crystal brook lived Tita, a small tortoise with a smooth brown shell laced with golden rings. While her sisters sunbathed on warm river pebbles and nibbled sweet clover, Tita spent her afternoons gazing upward, watching swallows loop through the open sky.

—How magical it must feel to drift across soft clouds and watch the green world from above! —Tita dreamed aloud.

Determined to fly, Tita tried leaping from a river boulder while flapping her legs, only to land with a gentle plop! onto soft grass. Next, two friendly seagulls tried lifting her with a twig, but the mountain gusts spun her around until she asked to be set down.

Trudging uphill with a heavy heart, Tita met an elder snail named Silvestre.

—Why the sorrowful eyes, young Tita? —asked the snail warmly.

—Because my legs are short and heavy, and I will never soar like the birds —she sighed.

Silvestre chuckled softly and gestured to the meadow:

—Birds fly swiftly, little one, but in their rush, they miss the sweet scent of blooming clover, the sparkle of morning dew, and the quiet lullaby of pebble streams. Your shell is a safe fortress, and your patient steps let you notice miniature wonders high flyers will never know.

Tita looked down and saw a colony of industrious ants helping one another, a wild violet opening to the sun, and the clear reflection of fluffy clouds mirrored in the placid stream.

Gliding into the water, Tita swam across the mirror-like surface. With the sky reflected below her shell, she was swimming right through the clouds. She smiled with pure joy: she didn't need feathers to touch the sky, she only needed to appreciate her own wonderful pace.

Moral: Everyone moves at their own perfect rhythm. When you stop comparing yourself to others, you discover the unique wonder of your own journey.