Chapter 5 : 
The Turtle
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18881888

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Author : Leo Tolstoy

Translator : Nathan Haskell Dole

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One time I went out hunting with Milton. Just as we 
reached the forest he began to get a scent. He stretched 
out his tail, pricked up his ears, and began to sniff. 
I got my musket ready and started after him. I sup- 
posed that he was on the track of a partridge, or a pheas- 
ant, or a hare. But Milton did not turn off into the woods, 
but into a field. I followed him and looked ahead. 
Suddenly I caught sight of what he was after. In 
front of him a little turtle was making its way it was 
of the size of a hat. Its bald, dark gray head and long 
neck were thrust out like a pistil. The turtle was mov- 
ing along by the aid of its bare feet, and its back was 
wholly covered by its shell. 
As soon as it saw the dog, it drew in its legs and head 
and flattened itself down into the grass, so that only its 
shell was visible. 
Milton grabbed it and tried to bite it ; but he could 
not set his teeth through it, because the turtle has over 
its belly the same sort of crust as over its back, with 
mere openings in front, on the side, and at the back 
for putting out its head, legs, and tail. 
I rescued the turtle from Milton, and examined how 
its back was marked, and how its shell was constructed, 
and how it managed to hide itself away. When you 
hold one in your hands and look under the shell, then, 
only, can you see something within, black and living. 
I laid the turtle down on the grass and went on, but 
Milton was loathe to leave it ; he seized it in his teeth and 
followed me. . 
Suddenly Milton whined and dropped it. The turtle 
in his mouth had extended a claw and scratched his lips. 
He was so indignant against it on account of this that 
he began to bark, and again picked it up and trotted 
after me. 
I told him to drop it again, but Milton would not heed me. Then I took the turtle from him and threw 
it away. 
But he would not give it up. He began in all haste 
to scratch up a hole with his paws, and then with his 
paws he pushed the turtle into the hole and covered it 
up with earth. 
Turtles live both on land and in the water, like adders 
and frogs. They produce their young from eggs, and 
they lay the eggs in the ground ; they do not sit on them, 
however, but the eggs themselves hatch out like fishes' 
spawn and become turtles. 
Turtles are often small not larger than a saucer; 
and then, again, they are big, reaching a length of seven 
feet and a weight of seven hundred and twenty pounds. 
The great turtles inhabit the sea. 
One single female turtle in the spring will lay hun- 
dreds of eggs. 
The shell of the turtle is its ribs. In men and other 
animals the ribs are each separate, but in the case of the 
turtle the ribs form the shell. It is also a peculiarity 
that in all animals the ribs are underneath the flesh, but 
in the case of the turtle, the ribs are outside, and the flesh 
is underneath them.



     From : Wikisource.org

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     Chapter 5 -- Publication : November 30, 1887

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