The Cautious Tortoise

This is the story of a cautious little tortoise called Lloyd. Lloyd was always worrying which made it difficult for him to listen to his heart and try new things. Instead, he hid himself away and slept all day and all night – which meant he didn’t really enjoy life much. This is a sweet little bedtime story that will help children not worry too much about what other people think and learn to trust themselves a little more.

Transcript

This is the story of a cautious little tortoise called Lloyd.

Lloyd was always worrying,

Which made it difficult for him to listen to his heart and try new things.

Instead,

He hid himself away and slept all day and all night,

Which meant he didn't really enjoy life much.

But thanks to his little friend Mouse,

He soon found a new way to trust in himself and also learned to have a little fun along the way.

Are you ready to hear the story?

Okay then,

Here we go.

Lloyd,

The cautious tortoise,

Tended to sleep most of the day and all of the night.

It wasn't because he was really,

Really tired or anything like that.

No,

It was because whenever he was awake,

He spent the whole time worrying about things.

Things like not being good enough or not being clever enough or what might happen if he couldn't do something.

And do you know why he worried about so many things?

Because whenever he was awake and tried to do anything,

He kept running into his arch-enemy,

Critic.

Critic was a little toad with a big voice who liked to follow Lloyd around.

He followed him from the moment Lloyd got up in the morning to the time he went to bed at night.

Sometimes when Lloyd had bad dreams,

He imagined it might be because Lloyd had snuck into his house intent on bothering him all night as well as all day.

The trouble with Critic was that he always talked very loudly in a negative way,

Telling Lloyd what he was doing wrong,

Why he shouldn't have done something that way and generally being very unhelpful.

Critic loved the sound of his own voice and often repeated himself,

Focusing minutely on any problems that Lloyd might have,

Pointing out what could go wrong in every situation and absolutely refusing to acknowledge that Lloyd was capable of solving the problems for himself or doing things properly ever.

How annoying does he sound?

No wonder poor old Lloyd preferred to stay in bed.

One day Lloyd had a visitor to his house.

His good friend Mouse had come to visit as he hadn't seen Lloyd in such a long time and Lloyd found himself telling Mouse all about the irritating Critic.

Why don't you just ignore him?

Asked Mouse.

But Lloyd said he'd tried to do that but it was much too difficult as Critic had such a loud voice.

He's just so noisy,

Sighed Lloyd.

I can hardly hear myself think when he's around.

Mouse thought for a moment.

Then he bent and scrabbled around on the ground as though looking for something in particular.

When he straightened up he handed Lloyd a small stone shaped like a heart.

Take this!

Mouse squeaked.

I have an idea!

Mouse told Lloyd that he should just get up and go out about his usual business the following day.

And if he bumped into Critic,

Mouse advised Lloyd to listen to what he said and not to interrupt.

Let Critic get it all out of his system!

He said.

Then when he's worn himself out from all the talking,

You just need to touch the pebble and listen to this heart instead.

Lloyd looked confused.

He didn't see how this tiny pebble could help him fight off the hugely loud and extremely irritating Critic.

But he realised that Mouse was a wise sort of friend and was only trying to help.

And after all,

What harm could it do?

So he agreed to give it a go.

That night,

Despite his doubts about the possible effectiveness of Mouse's plan,

He nevertheless sloped off to bed feeling a little happier and more positive than he had in weeks.

The next morning,

Despite his reservations,

Lloyd took Mouse's advice and left his little house in order to forage for his breakfast.

Not far from his front door,

He spied some particularly juicy dandelion leaves poking out behind a large bundle of rocks.

Oh ho!

He thought to himself.

Those are exactly what I need for my breakfast to set me up for the day.

And so,

Undeterred by the height of the rocks in front of him,

Lloyd scurried forwards,

Ready to begin his climb.

But just as he set his right foot against the first large rock,

Who should appear but Critic?

Why on earth are you trying to climb those rocks?

Shouted the noisy toad.

You'll never get over them.

Look how small your legs are.

You'll topple over backwards and smash your shell as sure as I'm squatting here.

And then what will you do?

You'll have no dandelion leaves,

No shell and no way of protecting yourself when the birds come to try and peck at you for their breakfast.

And on and on he went.

Oh my goodness,

Thought Lloyd,

Staring up at the mass of rocks in front of him.

He took his right leg off the first one,

Took a few steps backwards and shook his head.

What on earth was he thinking?

The rocks were incredibly high and he was incredibly small.

What if he did fall?

Perhaps Critic was right.

He certainly didn't fancy becoming someone else's breakfast that morning.

Perhaps it would be a better idea after all if he turned himself around and went to find some less tasty but easier to get at grass to eat.

And he was just about to do exactly that when he remembered the pebble heart that his friend Mouse had given him.

Lloyd waited until Critic had finished shouting out all the disastrous things that might happen if he attempted to climb the rocks.

The toad squatted,

Panting for breath after all the effort he had put into his unhelpful bellowing.

And when all was quiet,

Lloyd took the pebble out from under his shell and held the little heart close to his ear and listened.

He waited a while and listened again.

Presently Lloyd heard a very quiet but calm little voice.

Have you climbed over rocks before?

It asked and Lloyd nodded.

But never this high,

He admitted.

But did your strong and steady legs carry you safely up and over them?

The little calm voice inquired.

Again Lloyd nodded.

He started to feel more positive about climbing the rocks.

The little voice from his heart was only telling him things he already knew after all.

He may not have tried anything this big before,

But he thought he probably,

Maybe,

Could be able to.

Didn't he?

He made a tiny move towards the rocks and then stopped again.

But what if I do fall?

He fretted.

What indeed,

Agreed his heart.

Would you try again,

Do you think?

Dandelion leaves are your favourite after all.

Yes,

Said Lloyd.

I really think I would try again.

Dandelions are my absolute best favourite thing to eat.

But what if I fall and crack my shell?

Is it soft then?

Asked his heart.

Your shell.

Is it soft and liable to crack if you land on it?

Of course not,

Replied Lloyd proudly.

My shell is a strong and wonderful shell and keeps me dry in all sorts of weather and safe from any attack by flimsy feathery birds.

It has never let me down.

Not once.

Well then,

Said the heart.

And Lloyd considered those two little words.

Well then.

Well then,

Why not?

He thought to himself.

And off he scuttled over to the rocks again.

Critic had stayed silent until now and there was a faint look of disbelief in his eyes as he watched the cautious tortoise.

Usually Lloyd listened to everything he said.

The noisy toad was not used to being ignored.

Slowly and carefully Lloyd began to climb the rocks and when he was about half way he stopped to look down.

Critic had disappeared.

Lloyd was so happy.

He carried on climbing cautiously.

He took his time to get to the top of the heap of rocks before coming down the other side where the dandelions grew.

Whilst he slipped and stumbled a little he didn't fall and soon he found himself enjoying his favourite breakfast.

When he had finished,

Lloyd decided to go and call on his friend Mouse.

He knew his friend would be pleased to see him again.

On the way Lloyd found himself so happy but so busy looking up and enjoying the sunshine that he failed to see a small dip in the ground.

Uh oh!

Poor Lloyd fell awkwardly and tumbled into the dip,

Coming to rest on his back with his little legs flailing above him like flags in the wind as he attempted to get himself upright again.

And whose face should appear just at that moment?

Of course,

Critic.

Oh no,

Not now.

Look what you've gone and done!

The noisy toad started in immediately.

You've got yourself into trouble again.

On your back in a hole,

You'll never get out of this fix and all because you weren't looking where you were going.

Now you'll fry in the baking sun and it will be all your fault.

Critic took a deep breath before stepping up his attack.

He kept on shouting unhelpful and unkind things to Lloyd about how he always managed to mess things up and how he was never going to get things right and on and on and on he went.

Poor little Lloyd.

The cautious tortoise felt as though he was going to cry.

What a pickle he was in!

Critic was right.

He was going to fry like an egg in the hot sun with his soft belly exposed and no hard shell to protect him from the heat.

He would never get to see his friend Mouse again.

Wait a moment.

Mouse!

Of course!

Where was that pebble heart?

And Lloyd drew it out from under his shell and held it up to his ear again.

Critic,

Who had exhausted himself at last from all the shouting,

Had finally fallen silent.

Lloyd bent his head and listened carefully for the right words to come from his heart.

He didn't have long to wait.

Hello!

Came the same calm,

Quiet voice.

What's up?

Are you all right?

Lloyd tearfully explained what had happened and his heart replied kindly.

Goodness!

What are we going to do?

Have you toppled onto your back before?

Of course!

Said Lloyd,

Perking up suddenly.

Many,

Many times.

And what did you do?

Persisted his heart.

Lloyd thought about it.

He looked up.

Critic had disappeared again.

Lloyd inspected his sturdy little legs and the long claws at the end of each of his feet.

They were pretty impressive,

After all.

And very strong.

He rocked a little on his shell from side to side,

Moving faster and faster,

And then when he had tipped himself almost all the way over to the right as far as he could reach,

He dug both of his right legs firmly into the ground beside him.

Using his long,

Sharp claws to dig in still deeper,

He managed to flip himself upright and landed thud on all four feet.

He breathed heavily.

Getting himself free had been quite tricky,

Actually.

And a bit of work.

But a lot of fun.

Thank you,

He said to his heart before tucking it safely away inside his shell again.

He felt very pleased with the effort he had made to get himself out of a jam.

And with a huge smile on his face,

Trotted off to find Mouse.

Mouse was outside playing with his children and was delighted to see his friend again so soon after their last meeting.

Lloyd told him everything that had happened over the past day and thanked him again for the pebble heart,

Which had been really helpful.

Mouse nodded wisely.

We will come across critics wherever we go,

He said,

They will often tell us the most unhelpful and unkind things,

And if you listen you are bound to fail,

And the worst critic of all can often be the one closest to us,

Ourselves.

We should always take a moment to pause when unhelpful thoughts appear,

Squeaked Mouse,

So that we can learn to listen to our heart.

And Lloyd nodded.

Mouse was a very wise friend after all.

The cautious tortoise had learned a valuable lesson that day.

It is only when we connect to our hearts that we are able to hear the more helpful messages waiting for us there.

Reviews

Beautiful beautiful story 🐢🙏🩶Thank you so much 🙏🐭

Amazing! This was for my little inside (me) ❤.... love, love, love it...

Love this story 💓
It’s as good of a reminder for me as it is a great story for my littles

This is a great story for kids. However many adults might revisit the theme and reflect on their own critic.

Amazing. Thank you x

💙I love this story and it has a lot of meaning. I saw critic (the frog) as a sort of bully so I felt like Lloyd (the tortoise) was standing up to him. And you should always listen to yourself too. Lovely story and teaches many great lessons. Thank you💙

💙👍😴🐸🐢

⭐️🌟✨🌟⭐️

You know this was quite lovely but the little bell at the end hurt my ear.

Such a LOVELY and ENCOURAGING story❣️ I look forward to sharing it with my Grandchildren. 😊🙏🏻💕

Such a great story. Thank you.

Beautiful story 💕🐢 wonderfully told thank you 🙏🏼