Once upon a time at the beautiful beach of Sur, in the country called Oman, lived a turtle. He said nothing at all but, “Shell”. 

He was light green in color and had a softback with diamond patterns. He lived by the shore in a house made of seaweed. The beach had soft golden sand and shiny silver shells that glittered in the sunlight. It was a time when people and animals loved each other and lived happily together.  

One day, a lonely squid came to the turtle and said, “Come and race with me!”, but the turtle just said, “Shell”. The squid went away and told the fruit seller about this. The next day, a diver came to the turtle and said, “Come and cook with me!”, but the turtle said, “Shell”. The diver went away and told the fruit seller too.  On the third day, a pilot whale came to the turtle and said, “Come and catch fish with me!” but the turtle said, “Shell”. The whale swam away to where the fruit seller sold his fruits near the sea.  

The fruit seller, who was called, Simba, was very angry with the turtle. He told the lonely squid, the diver, and the pilot whale that he was sorry that the turtle was not being friendly. This made them sad. They swam to the water Queen and told her everything. When she heard this, she was quite upset and decided to pay that turtle a visit tomorrow. The next day, she put on her dress made of Omani pearls and set off to the turtle’s house. When she got there, she said to the turtle in a very strict tone, “Why are you not making friends Mr. Turtle?” “Well… “, said the turtle in a shaky voice, “Because I don’t want to have people around me…” 

 “Is that so?”, said the Queen.  

“Shell”, said the turtle because the turtle always says “Shell” 

“Well, in that case, I am here to help you live in your shell forever!”, said the Queen, and waved her wand. She muttered a few words and cast her spell. 

Suddenly, the turtle felt heavy. When he looked at his back, he found that there was a heavy shell that he just could not shake off. 

The Queen said, “Shell Shell was all you said! And now you will always have a shell on your back and never have to make friends!” 

From that day on, all turtles must carry their shells on their backs.