EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

Colegio Evangélico Miguel Limardo

NAME
Ismeily Abigail Cruz Vásquez
STORY’S TITLE
The Giant Turtle
ORIGINAL AUTHOR
Horacio Quiroga
GRADE
6th
SECTION
B
TEACHER
Mr. Máximo Mejías
PRINCIPAL
Rev. Geovanny Santana
DATE
May 23rd 2022
 THE GIANT TURTLE

There was once a man who lived in Buenos Aires and he was very
happy because he was a healthy and hardworking man. But one day he
became ill, and the doctors told him that only by going to the countryside
could he be cured. He didn't want to go because he had younger brothers
whom he fed; and he got sicker every day. Until a friend of his, who was
director of the Zoo, told him one day:

You are a friend of mine, and you are a good and hardworking man.
That's why I want him to go live in the mountains, to do a lot of exercise
outdoors to heal. And since you have a lot of aim with the shotgun, hunt
bush bugs to bring me the hides, and I will give you silver in advance so
that your little brothers can eat well.

The sick man accepted, and went to live in the mountains, farther
away, farther away than Misiones still. It was very hot there, and that was
good for him.

He lived alone in the forest, and he cooked himself. He ate birds and
bugs from the bush, which he hunted with the shotgun, and then ate fruits.
He slept under the trees, and when the weather was bad, he built in five
minutes branches with palm leaves, and there he spent sitting and smoking,
very happy in the middle of the forest that roared with the wind and rain.

He had made a tie with the hides of the animals, and he carried them
on his shoulder. He had also grabbed, alive, many poisonous vipers, and
carried them inside a large mate, because there are mates as big as a can of
kerosene.

The man was again in good color, strong and had an appetite.
Precisely one day when he was very hungry, because he had not hunted
anything for two days, he saw on the shore of a large lagoon a huge tiger
that wanted to
eat a turtle, and he put it on a singing stop to put a leg inside and take out
the meat with his nails. Seeing the man, the tiger let out a frightening roar
and jumped on him. But the hunter who had a great aim pointed at him
between the two eyes, and broke his head. Then he took out the leather, so
big that he could only serve as a carpet for a room.

—Now—said the man—I'm going to eat turtle, which is a very rich

meat.

But when he approached the turtle, he saw that he was already

injured, and his head was almost separated from his neck, and his head
hung almost two or three threads of flesh.

Despite the hunger he felt, the man had pity on the poor turtle, and he
dragged her with a rope to his ramada and bandaged her head with gender
strips that he took out of his shirt, because he had only one shirt, and he had
no rags. He had dragged her because the turtle was immense, as tall as a
chair, and he weighed like a man.

The turtle was left close to a corner, and there it spent days and days
without moving.

The man cured her every day, and then tapped her hand on her back.

The turtle healed at last. But then it was the man who got sick. He
had a fever and his whole body hurt.

Then he couldn't get up anymore. The fever always increased, and

his throat burned him with so much thirst. The man understood that he was
seriously ill, and spoke loudly, although he was alone, because he had a
high fever.
—I'm going to die—said the man—I'm alone, I can't get up anymore, and I
have no one to give me water, even. I'm going to die here of hunger and
thirst.

And soon the fever rose even higher, and he lost consciousness.

But the turtle had heard it and understood what the hunter was
saying. And she thought then:

“The man didn't eat me the other time, although I was very hungry,
and he cured me. I'm going to cure him now”.

He then went to the lagoon, looked for a small turtle shell, and after
cleaning it well with sand and ash he filled it with water and gave the man
to drink, who was lying on his blanket and dying of thirst. He immediately
began to look for rich roots and tender yuyitos, which he took the man to
eat, the man ate without realizing who gave him the food, because he had
delirium with fever and did not know anyone.

Every morning, the turtle roamed the bush looking for richer and
richer roots to give to man and felt unable to climb trees to bring him fruits.

The hunter ate like this days and days without knowing who gave
him the food, and one day he regained consciousness, He looked
everywhere, and saw that he was alone because there was nothing but him
and the turtle there; that it was an animal. And he said again out loud:

—I am alone in the forest, the fever is going to return again, and I am

going to die here, because only in Buenos Aires there are remedies to cure
me. But I will never be able to go, and I will die here.

And as he had said, the fever returned that afternoon, stronger than
before, and he lost consciousness again.

Yuyitos: A kind of plant that grows in gardens, it is known as an herb of little value and
that is harmful to other plants because it invades the cultivated land and harms the
crops. It is not palatable to cattle.
 But also, this time the turtle had heard it, and it was said:

Yuyitos: A kind of plant that grows in gardens, it is known as an herb of little value and
that is harmful to other plants because it invades the cultivated land and harms the
crops. It is not palatable to cattle.
 —If he stays here in the bush he will die, because there are no
remedies, and I have to take him to Buenos Aires.

With that said, he cut thin and strong vines, which are like piolas,
very carefully lay the man on his back, and held him tightly with the vines
so that he would not fall. Did a lot of tests to accommodate well the
shotgun, the hides and the mate with vipers, and at last he got what he
wanted, without disturbing the hunter, and then undertook the journey.

The turtle, loaded like this, walked, walked and walked day and
night. She crossed mountains, fields, swam rivers a league wide, and
crossed swamps in which she was almost buried, always with the dying
man on top. After eight or ten hours of walking he would stop and undo the
knots and lay the man down very carefully in a place where there was very
dry grass.

He would then go to fetch water and tender roots, and give it to the
sick man. She ate too, although she was so tired that she preferred to sleep.

Sometimes I had to walk in the sun; and since it was summer, the
hunter had such a fever that he was delirious and dying of thirst. He
shouted: water! at all times. And each time the turtle had to give him a
drink.

That's how he walked days and days, week after week. They were
getting closer and closer to Buenos Aires, but also every day the turtle was
weakening, every day she had less strength, although she did not complain.
Sometimes it was stretched out, completely without strength, and man half-
regained consciousness. And he said, out loud:

—I'm going to die, I'm getting sicker, and only in Buenos Aires
could I be cured. But I'm going to die here, alone in the bush.

Piolas: Thin rope or cord, especially the one formed by two or three twisted cords that
is used in seafaring.
 He believed that he was always in the ramada, because he didn't
realize anything. The turtle would then rise, and set out again on the road.

Piolas: Thin rope or cord, especially the one formed by two or three twisted cords that
is used in seafaring.
 But there came a day, a sunset, when the poor turtle couldn't take it
anymore. He had reached the limit of his strength, and he couldn't take it
anymore. I hadn't eaten for a week to arrive sooner. He had no more
strength for anything.

When night fell completely, he saw a distant light on the horizon, a

glow that illuminated the entire sky, and he didn't know what it was. She
felt weaker and weaker, and then closed her eyes to die together with the
hunter, thinking sadly that she had not been able to save the man who had
been good to her.

And yet, she was already in Buenos Aires, and she didn't know it.
That light he saw in the sky was the radiance of the city, and he was going
to die when he was already at the end of his heroic journey.

But a city mouse—possibly the little mouse Perez—found the two

dying travelers.

—What a turtle! —said the mouse. —I have never seen such a large
turtle. And what do you carry on your back, what is it? Is it firewood?

—No—the turtle replied sadly. — He's a man.

—And where are you going with that man? —added the curious
mouse.

—I'm going... I 'm going... I wanted to go to Buenos Aires. —replied

the poor turtle in a voice so low that it was barely heard. But we're going to
die here because I'll never get there...

—Ah, zonza, zonza! —Said the little mouse laughing. I've never seen
a turtle more zonza! If you have already arrived in Buenos Aires! That light
you see there is Buenos Aires.

Zonza: That has no liveliness, energy, or grace.

 Hearing this, the turtle felt immensely strong because it still had time
to save the hunter, and set off on the march.

Zonza: That has no liveliness, energy, or grace.

 And when it was still early in the morning, the director of the
Zoological Garden saw a muddy and extremely skinny turtle arrive, which
he brought lying on his back and tied with vines, so that he would not fall,
a man who was dying. The director recognized his friend, and he himself
ran to find remedies, with which the hunter was immediately cured.

When the hunter knew how the turtle had saved him, how he had
made a trip of three hundred leagues to take remedies he did not want to
separate himself from it anymore. And since he could not have her in his
house, which was very small, the director of the Zoo promised to have her
in the Garden, and to take care of her as if she were his own daughter.

And so, it happened. The turtle, happy and content with the affection
they have for it, walks around the garden, and is the same big turtle that we
see every day eating the pasture around the monkey cages.

The hunter goes to see her every afternoon and she knows her friend
from afar, by the steps. They spend a couple of hours together, and she
never wants him to leave without him patting her back.
 PLOT

It’s about a man who lived in Buenos Aires, he was very sick and the
doctors told him that he had to go out to the countryside so that he could
heal but he did not want to because he had brothers to feed. A friend,
director of a zoo, saw the situation of his friend and proposed to take care
of his brothers and give him medicines while he was in the mountains
looking to heal but, on the condition that he had to give him animal hides.

When he embarked on his journey, he reached the forests where he fed on

insects and animals, so several days passed and his health seemed to
improve. One day, he had not hunted anything to eat and went to a lagoon
where he found a huge tribe attacking a turtle, the tiger saw the man and
was thrown towards him but the man managed to kill him and remove the
leather. He immediately went to the turtle with the intention of eating it but,
he was very sorry and instead decided to heal it. The turtle seeing this felt a
great affection for the man.

One day the man worsened in health and the turtle said he would heal him
because he had saved and healed her. So, she fed him but the man still did
not heal, with his last strength the man exclaimed that only in Buenos Aires
there were remedies to heal. The turtle hearing this set out on the journey,
carrying the man on its back.

RESOLUTION

The Turtle had surrendered because he thought he wouldn’t reach his

destination, he closed his eyes prepared to die, but, he saw a mouse that
was curious about the large size of the turtle, it told him that he had to
reach Buenos Aires and the mouse told him that it was very close to that
place, then, the turtle full of encouragement, continued until a man
recognized his friend from the back of the turtle and gave him the
remedies. The already healthy man said he couldn't keep the turtle, and his
friend offered to take care of it as if it were his daughter, and he did. The
man after healing, went to visit the turtle every day.

SETTING

Buenos Aires, Argentina

CHARACTERS

 The sick man

 The giant turtle
 Tiger
 Doctors
 Sick man’s friend
 Sick man’s siblings