ONCE upon a time,
beyond mountains and beyond forests, beyond a sea called Black,
beyond the Red and Yellow seas,
there was another sea of many colours,
colours which changed like the colours of a kaleidoscope.
There in the middle of the sea was a little coral isle,
where the king of turtles lived.
The king was the oldest turtle in the world,
and his home was so very large, it covered almost the whole isle.
From the first window the king watched the sea,
from the second and third windows stuck out his arms,
from the fourth and fifth one leg each,
and from the last one protruded his huge tail.
The king of turtles didn’t even go down to the water any more,
and his house had rooted into the isle.