seeing him thus carried by the hamsas, some villagers called out, "two wild ducks are carrying a tortoise along on a stick!" whereupon the tortoise wanted to say, "if my friends choose to carry me, what is that to you, you wretched slaves!" so just as the swift flight of the wild ducks had brought him over the king's palace in the city of benares, he let go of the stick he was biting, and falling in the open courtyard, split in two! and there arose a universal cry, "a tortoise has fallen in the open courtyard, and has split in two!"