A clever turtle and a foolish iguana were best friends. One day, they went fishing at a pond but the owner of the pond came there. The iguana escaped, but the man caught the turtle. The turtle was rather angry at the iguana for deserting him.
That night, the iguana came there and asked him why he was tied there. “I am to marry the old man’s daughter,” said the turtle, sadly. “Why are you so sad about that?” asked the iguana. “I don’t want to marry his daughter,” replied the turtle.
Now the iguana had been looking for a wife. So he said, ¶Why don’t we change places?” The turtle agreed and the iguana released him so that he might be tied in place of the turtle.
Thus he took the turtle’s place and was so delighted that he kept saying, “I’ll marry the old man’s daughter!”
The old man awoke hearing this and was annoyed. He picked a stick up and murmured, “How dare he announce that he will marry my daughter?”
The iguana saw him coming with the stick and was so frightened that he bit through the string and ran for his life. He found the turtle sitting near a tree listening to the sound of two bamboos rubbing each other.
“Can you hear the music from heaven?” said the turtle, before he could say anything. The iguana looked puzzled. “What music?” he asked.
“If you put your head between the bamboos then you can hear it,” said the turtle.
Foolish iguana became eager to hear the music, so he climbed up the tree. The sticks rubbed together pinching poor iguana’s mouth sharply and he fell down to the ground with a loud thud!
The turtle went off happily and never returned to the iguana again.
