"Kindling, kindling! Don't you need kindling?" he would call as he walked around selling the sticks. He used the little bit of money he received to buy rice, or else vegetables that his mother liked, and they got by in that way.
One day, however, he heard a rustling sound at his feet, and saw a little turtle there. The turtle stretched its neck out of its shell and looked up at the younger brother. He thought it was a cute little turtle, and couldn't help smiling. Then the turtle spoke to him, in human language.
"Excuse me, but you are truly an admirable person. You work with all your might to treat your mother as you should. For that reason, I have some good news for you. Won't you give it a try?"
The younger brother was surprised at the turtle's words, but since he had been offered some good news, he squatted down in front of the turtle and said, "What is it, turtle? You said you have some good news."
"That's right," the turtle said. "I'll teach you how to earn a lot of money."
"Ho-- how to earn money?" That did seem strange to him.
"Well, it's not a big deal. Even though I'm a turtle, I actually sing pretty well. Listen-- I'll sing a little for you."
"Mm, okay," the younger brother said, thinking the turtle was stranger yet.
And so the turtle began to sing what is called "The Song of the Turtle." What kind of song was "The Song of the Turtle?" The person who told me this story said he had forgotten what the song sounded like, but that if anyone was ever in a mountain forest and met a talking turtle, he should ask to hear "The Song of the Turtle." It is certainly a good song, and bound to make you smile.
When the turtle sang "The Song of the Turtle," the younger brother was very impressed. "That was very good, very skillful," he said, nodding his head. "You have good rhythm and a good voice."
"Interesting, isn't it?" the turtle said. "So please take me into town, to a corner where lots of people pass by, and I'll sing like I did just now. You'll earn much more money than you do selling kindling. Then you can take even better care of your precious mother."
The younger brother was overjoyed to hear this. "That's right," he said. "Let's give it a try. It's going to be getting colder and colder, so I'd like to buy mother clothes and make her a quilt."
The turtle nodded its outstretched head in approval, and said, "That's right. That's right. Let's do it right away. I know a few other songs as well. There's "The Song of the Rabbit" and "The Song of the Fox," and I can also do imitations of the bush warbler, the cuckoo and the nightingale." Then it did the bird calls to show him.
The next morning the younger brother loaded up his kindling as always and started into town, but the turtle was riding right at the top of the load. When he had finished selling his dry sticks, he went to as busy corner as the turtle had said. He placed the turtle in the palm of his hand, and called out in a loud voice.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please listen for a moment. Here in the palm of my hand is a turtle who will sing an interesting song. It sings with a human voice. The song has an interesting rhythm, and the turtle has an excellent voice."
Because it was a crowded location, 20 or 30 people gathered around faster than you could say "Is that so!" They were all saying things like "Really? A singing turtle?" or "That would be wierd!"
The turtle started singing before they could finish their exclamations. Sitting on the palm of the younger brother's hand, it opened its mouth wide and sang out. It sang "The Song of the Turtle," "The Song of the Rabbit" and "The Song of the Fox," and then imitated various bird songs and animal calls. When it imitated a human baby crying, everyone laughed out loud. By the time the turtle was finished, the crowd had grown to several hundred people standing on all sides.
The people were all saying things like "What a wonderful turtle!" or "That's really a clever turtle!" or "You won't find another turtle like that anywhere in the world!" Then one of them pulled out a few coins and said, "Here, thank you for the song."
When he handed the coins to the younger brother, the others said, "That's right, it wouldn't to to listen to such wonderful turtle songs free of charge." One after another they gave money to him. The younger brother received more money than he had ever imagined, and returned home rejoicing. Then he and his mother rejoiced together. Actually, they rejoiced together with the turtle. From then on he would go into town from time to time, or to nearby towns, and have the turtle sing. Each time he received a large amount of money, and before long he had become extremely wealthy. Then he was able to feed his mother delicious foods, of course, and to build a fine house and buy beautiful furniture and warm clothes for her.
The elder brother was surprised when he learned about this, and hurried over.
"Brother! Brother!" he said. "You seem to have become very wealthy recently. How did you ever get so much money?"
The younger brother told him the story of the singing turtle, just as it happened. Hearing that, the elder brother became quite envious.
"How would it be, little brother, if I borrowed that turtle, just for a little while? I'd like to get some money too!"
Having said that, he didn't wait to hear the younger brother's answer, but quickly grabbed the turtle and ran out.
Then the elder brother went into town and did as the younger brother had done.
"Singing turtle! Skilled singing turtle! Come and see the singing turtle!" he called, and people gathered around.
"Okay, turtle, sing a song," he urged. "Get everyone to give us lots of money."
But the turtle didn't make a sound. The elder brother pleaded this way and that, but the turtle remained completely silent. The spectators eventually became impatient, and glared at the elder brother saying things like "Hey, this one's a fake!" or "He's trying to trick us out of our money with a non-singing turtle!" or "He's a terrible fellow, however you look at it."
As soon as he got back to his home, the elder brother killed the turtle.
The younger brother waited and waited, but the elder brother didn't return the turtle. Worrying about what might have happened, he hurried over to see. He found the turtle was dead. The younger brother cried and mourned, but nothing could be done at that point. So he took the turtle back and buried it beside his house. Then he planted a small tree over the grave.
When he went to the grave the following day, he saw that the small tree had become a great tree that reached up to heaven.
As he stared up in amazement, he saw something shining and sparkling above him, and coming down in a line. As it got closer, he saw that the line was made up of hundreds of little turtles. Each one held a lump of gold in its mouth. When the first of the line came within reach of the younger brother, he held out his palm to hold the turtle, but instead of climbing onto the hand, the turtle dropped its lump of gold, then turned around and started climbing back up the tree. One by one, each turtle came down, did the same thing, then climbed up the tree to who knows where. Consequently the younger brother was now richer than ever.
When the elder brother heard about it, he came over again. He cut a branch from the tree, and planted it in his own yard. When he went to look the next morning, there was a great tree that reached up to heaven. "That's good," the greedy brother thought as he looked up. "Soon the turtles will come down with the gold." Before long a line of little turtles did come down. However, the turtles stopped before coming within his reach, and waved their heads and paws as though making fun of him. Then each one turned around and hurried back up the tree. Seeing that, the elder brother became very angry, and began to climb up the tree after them. When he was quite high up, a branch he was pulling himself up on suddenly snapped. He dropped like a stone. And he was hurt very badly. This is a story about not being greedy. And that's the happy ending.