Week 2 Story: The Turtle and the Goose

A beautiful crown encrusted with jewels, making it a prime target for thieves.
Source: Wikipedia Commons by Cyril Davenport

There once was a robber who was infamously known as "The Turtle", as he stole the crown of the Queen of Genovia solely by sneaking into her room and then shoving it into his green backpack after she had set it down for just a second and then crawling to the nearest manhole on prison grounds that led to a sewer. The only person that saw him was a groundsman that noticed him acting in a sketchy behavior and when he saw him trying to escape into the manhole, the groundsman was too slow to catch him and was only fast enough to stomp on The Turtle's right hand with his steel-toed boots as he was about to jump into the hole, leaving four of his fingers permanently black and blue.

He successfully made his grand escape, but ultimately was caught after trying to sell the crown on the black market to an undercover US FBI agent. The robber was then sent to prison in Genovia, where he had the same daily routine of waking up, trying to survive the day of dealing with the other inmates and the worst prison guard at the Prison, Officer Kidd, and then going to sleep. Officer Kidd made The Turtle's life a living hell by harassing him, depriving him of his freedom within the prison, and just bullying him in any way possible because he was so patriotic and loyal to the Queen.

The Turtle continued this routine every single day with nothing too exciting happening for years. One day, he saw her. He saw the most beautiful women that he had ever laid eyes on and he knew that she had seen him from the first time that they had made eye contact. They looked at each other like they had been searching for each other for their entire lives. The only problem was that she was wearing a prison guard uniform and carrying a baton.

The Turtle finally built up the courage to talk to her, first asking her what her name was, Officer Goose, and then indulging in small talk and ultimately sharing letters with each other, learning each other's deepest secrets, wishes, and dreams. Both Officer Goose and The Turtle knew their love could no longer bear to be confined by the walls of the prison so they spent weeks learning the ins and outs of the prison and its security system to formulate a plan for The Turtle's escape. Officer Goose asked for the help of her friend that works as a food delivery truck driver that visits the prison every two weeks. The plan was for The Turtle to shave all of his hair and his long beard, put on the uniform that the truck drivers from that company wear along with sunglasses and a hat, and calmly ride off of prison grounds to avoid the chaos that would ensue after he was found to be missing.

The day finally came and the truck driver let Officer Goose know that he was coming in. The Turtle shaved, packed his most important belongings in his pockets, and then went to go meet the driver and put on the uniform. The Turtle sat down in the truck in complete disbelief that the plan was actually working, full of excitement and adrenaline. The Turtle and the driver passed the security checkpoint, which was being manned by an officer watching a show on Netflix on his iPad, and that was it. They did it. As they turned out of the prison grounds, The Turtle saw Officer Kidd smoking a cigarette in his truck in the parking lot. Finally, Officer Kidd had no power or control over The Turtle so The Turtle did what anybody might do to "stick it to the man". He lifted his hand, flashing Officer Kidd his middle finger amidst his maniacal laughter, forgetting that his bruised hand was a signature characteristic, revealing Genovia's most infamous crown thief attempting to escape prison.

Author's Note: This is my rendition of the story of the Turtle and the Geese. Although it is very different from the original, I believe that it still shares the same message of "the cost of being petty outweighs the benefit".

Bibliography: The Turtle and the Geese. Source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt.