Every tortoise in the pond walked slowly.
Tuk walked slowest of all.
The fish went by in a flick.
“Too slow, Tuk!” they laughed, and were already gone.
Then, one warm night, the water lit up.
The jellyfish had come, floating like small green moons.
They drifted out towards the deep end, where the water goes dark and starry.
Tuk set off after them.
“Not that way,” said the crocodiles, all teeth and no smile.
“The deep end belongs to the fast.”
So Tuk turned back — and that is when he found them.
Three eggs in a nest at the water's edge, and nobody watching.
The night got longer. The reeds bent low.
Tuk did not move. Tuk was very good at not moving.
By morning the eggs were three small birds, and the whole pond had come to look.
The jellyfish came last, and stayed longest. Slow, it turns out, is a way of keeping things safe.