At length it was decided that the turtle , whose prudence was well known , should swim to land and contrive to catch a living ape and bring him safely to the ocean kingdom . It was easy enough for the council to entrust this mission to the turtle , but not at all so easy for him to fulfil it . However he swam to a part of the coast that was covered with tall trees , where he thought the apes were likely to be ; for he was old , and had seen many things . It was some time before he caught sight of any monkeys , and he often grew tired with watching for them , so that one hot day he fell fast asleep , in spite of all his efforts to keep awake . By-and-by some apes , who had been peeping at him from the tops of the trees , where they had been carefully hidden from the turtle 's eyes , stole noiselessly down , and stood round staring at him , for they had never seen a turtle before , and did not know what to make of it . At last one young monkey , bolder than the rest , stooped down and stroked the shining shell that the strange new creature wore on its back . The movement , gentle though it was , woke the turtle . With one sweep he seized the monkey 's hand in his mouth , and held it tight , in spite of every effort to pull it away . The other apes , seeing that the turtle was not to be trifled with , ran off , leaving their young brother to his fate . Then the turtle said to the monkey , ` If you will be quiet , and do what I tell you , I wo n't hurt you . But you must get on my back and come with me . ' The monkey , seeing there was no help for it , did as he was bid ; indeed he could not have resisted , as his hand was still in the turtle 's mouth . Delighted at having secured his prize , the turtle hastened back to the shore and plunged quickly into the water . He swam faster than he had ever done before , and soon reached the royal palace . Shouts of joy broke forth from the attendants when he was seen approaching , and some of them ran to tell the queen that the monkey was there , and that before long she would be as well as ever she was . In fact , so great was their relief that they gave the monkey such a kind welcome , and were so anxious to make him happy and comfortable , that he soon forgot all the fears that had beset him as to his fate , and was generally quite at his ease , though every now and then a fit of home-sickness would come over him , and he would hide himself in some dark corner till it had passed away . It was during one of these attacks of sadness that a jelly-fish happened to swim by . At that time jelly-fishes had shells . At the sight of the gay and lively monkey crouching under a tall rock , with his eyes closed and his head bent , the jelly-fish was filled with pity , and stopped , saying , ` Ah , poor fellow , no wonder you weep ; a few days more , and they will come and kill you and give your liver to the queen to eat . ' The monkey shrank back horrified at these words and asked the jelly-fish what crime he had committed that deserved death .
` Oh , none at all , ' replied the jelly-fish , ` but your liver is the only thing that will cure our queen , and how can we get XXXXX it without killing you ?
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