The Frog in the Well and the Sea Turtle

Tonight’s story comes from China, from more than two thousand years ago. A teacher called Zhuangzi wrote a book full of strange stories, with fish that turn into birds and a butterfly dream. Tonight’s comes from a chapter called “Autumn Floods”.

Long ago, in a corner of a village courtyard, there was an old well. Nobody had used it for years. The bricks round the sides were chipped and green with moss, and around the top was a wooden frame, faded grey. At the bottom was a small puddle of water mixed with mud.

In that well lived a frog. And the frog absolutely loved his well.

One day a turtle from the Eastern Sea came by. He was a big turtle, and the pattern on his shell looked like ripples on water. The frog was thrilled to have a visitor. He hopped up onto the edge of the well and called out:

“Turtle! Do you have any idea how happy I am? Whenever I like, I jump up onto this wooden frame round the top and play. When I’m tired, I go down and rest in a hollow where a brick has broken off the wall.

When I fancy a swim, I jump into the water. It holds me up under my arms and supports my chin, so comfy. When I fancy a splash in the mud, I kick down and the mud comes right up over my feet.

I look around at the wrigglers, the crabs and the tadpoles, and not one of them is a match for me! This whole pool is mine, and this whole well is mine too. What could be better than that?

Why don’t you come down for a bit, Turtle, and see what happiness really is?”

The sea turtle thought he might go down and have a look. He stepped forward and put one foot over the edge.

But before his left foot had got all the way in, his right knee was already stuck fast in the side of the well. The well was too small, and the turtle was too big.

The turtle slowly pulled his foot back out, stepped away, and apologised to the frog: he couldn’t come down after all. Then he sat by the edge of the well and told the frog about the sea.

“Frog, my sea is very wide. You could travel a thousand miles and not reach the other side. My sea is very deep. You could drop a line down a thousand fathoms and never touch the bottom.

Long ago there were years of great floods, nine years out of ten, when water covered everything. And still the sea got no fuller. There were years of drought, seven years out of eight, when no rain fell. And still the sea got no lower.

However long the time, however much or little water there is, the sea stays just as vast. Living in the Eastern Sea, that is my happiness.”

When the frog heard this, he was stunned. He sat very still on the edge of the well, eyes wide, mouth open, and could not think of a single thing to say.