In the ancient kingdom of Benin, where the great rivers flowed like liquid silver through the land and the spirits of water held power equal to those of earth and sky, there existed a realm beneath the waves known only to a blessed few. This was the river kingdom, a place of mystery and wonder where fish swam through gardens of swaying water plants and the riverbed glittered with stones that caught light from somewhere beyond mortal understanding.
The ruler of this underwater realm was a mighty river king whose palace was built from polished stones and decorated with treasures that had sunk from the world above over countless generations. He had one daughter, a princess whose beauty was spoken of in whispers even among those who had never seen her. Her skin, they said, gleamed like moonlight on water. Her voice was sweeter than the songs of birds at dawn. Her wisdom surpassed that of the eldest river spirits who had dwelt in those depths since the beginning of time.
But the princess had reached the age when she must marry, and the river king, loving his daughter dearly, wished to find her a worthy husband. He sent messengers to the surface world, creatures that could walk both on land and in water, with a proclamation that echoed through the forests and villages of Edo country.
“The river king seeks a husband for his beloved daughter,” the messengers announced. “Any suitor who can bring a gift never before seen in the river kingdom, a treasure so unique and wondrous that it amazes even the ancient spirits of the deep, shall win her hand in marriage and share in the wealth and power of the underwater realm.”
Word of this challenge spread like fire through dry grass. Every ambitious creature in the land began to scheme and plan, searching for something that might qualify as unprecedented and extraordinary. The competition would be fierce, for the prize was beyond measure, a princess of legendary beauty and a share of the river kingdom’s endless treasures.
Among those who heard the proclamation was Tortoise, a creature known throughout Edo land for his cunning mind and his restless ambition. Unlike the swift leopard or the mighty elephant, unlike the graceful antelope or the powerful buffalo, Tortoise had no impressive physical attributes to recommend him. But he possessed something he believed was far more valuable: cleverness that could open doors no amount of strength could force.
As the appointed day drew near, animals from across the kingdom began their journey to the sacred meeting place where the river spirits would receive the suitors. Tortoise watched them pass, each carrying what they believed would win the princess’s hand.
Leopard carried a magnificent carving made from the rarest blackwood, polished until it shone like the night sky and depicting scenes of great hunts and heroic battles. Elephant brought jewels he had unearthed from deep caves, stones that sparkled with inner fire and caught the light in dazzling ways. Antelope offered cloth so finely woven it seemed to be made of spider silk and morning mist. Buffalo presented weapons of war, spears and shields decorated with intricate patterns that told the stories of ancient victories.
Each gift was impressive, each suitor confident. But Tortoise, who had spent days in deep thought rather than gathering material treasures, carried nothing visible in his hands as he made his slow way toward the meeting place.
The river spirits had chosen a location where the great river widened into a natural pool, a place where the boundary between land and water seemed thin and permeable. Ancient trees leaned over the water’s edge, their roots reaching down to touch the surface like fingers seeking wisdom from the depths. As the sun began its descent toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and gold, the suitors gathered on the shore.
The water began to shimmer and glow with an otherworldly light. Slowly, figures emerged from beneath the surface, river priests whose bodies seemed to be made half of water and half of flesh, whose eyes held the wisdom of currents and tides. Behind them, carried on a throne of living coral and pearl, came the princess herself.
Even the boldest suitors caught their breath at the sight of her. She was indeed as beautiful as the legends claimed, perhaps more so, with an ethereal quality that made her seem like a dream that might dissolve if one looked too directly. But her eyes, though kind, were also sharp and discerning. This was no simple maiden to be won with flashy displays; this was a princess who could see into the hearts of those who sought her hand.
The river priests spoke, their voices like the sound of water flowing over smooth stones. “Bring forth your gifts, suitors of the land. Show us what you believe has never been seen in the river kingdom.”
One by one, the animals presented their offerings. Leopard stepped forward with his carving, and indeed it was magnificent. The river priests examined it carefully, turning it this way and that in the fading light. But finally, they shook their heads. “Beautiful,” they admitted, “but carvings we have seen before, taken from sunken ships and fallen from the hands of drowning men.”
Elephant’s jewels received similar judgment. “Precious stones fall into our waters from the mountains,” the priests said. “These are lovely, but not unprecedented.”
The cloth, the weapons, the pottery, the precious metals, one by one each gift was examined and found, however impressive, to be something the river kingdom had encountered before in its long existence.
Finally, only Tortoise remained. The other suitors watched with barely concealed amusement as he stepped forward, his shell dusty from the journey, his hands apparently empty. Surely this presumptuous little creature had nothing to offer that could succeed where they had failed.
Tortoise bowed low before the river priests and the princess. “Great spirits of the deep,” he said, his voice steady and respectful, “I bring no object that can be held in the hand or displayed on a shelf. Instead, I offer something that exists only in the moment it is given and can never be possessed or stored away. I bring a song that has never been sung before, words and melody that came to me in a dream, gifted by the ancestors themselves.”
The river priests exchanged glances. The princess leaned forward slightly, her interest clearly piqued. A song, unlike a physical object, could indeed be truly unique, something that had never existed before this moment.
“Sing, then,” the chief priest commanded.
Tortoise closed his eyes and began to sing. The voice that emerged from his throat was not particularly strong or beautiful in the conventional sense, but the song itself was extraordinary. The melody wove and spiraled in ways that seemed impossible, rising and falling like the river itself, sometimes gentle as a stream, sometimes powerful as rapids, sometimes mysterious as the darkest depths. The words spoke of water and earth, of the meeting place between worlds, of love that transcends the boundaries of realm and form.
As Tortoise sang, a remarkable thing happened. The river itself seemed to respond, its surface rippling in patterns that matched the melody. The fish beneath the water rose to listen. The birds in the trees fell silent. Even the wind paused, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The river spirits, ancient beings who had witnessed countless wonders, stood motionless, captivated by something they had genuinely never experienced before.
When the last note faded into the gathering darkness, there was a profound silence. Then the princess spoke for the first time, her voice like bells made of silver and crystal. “In all the ages of the river kingdom, in all the gifts brought by countless suitors, never has there been anything like this. A song created in this moment, never sung before, impossible to duplicate exactly, and offered freely rather than carried in a bag or held in greedy hands. This is truly a gift never before seen, for it cannot be seen at all, only felt and remembered.”
The river priests nodded in agreement. “The tortoise has won the challenge. The princess is his, should she accept him.”
The princess smiled, a expression of genuine warmth and appreciation. “I do accept. Such creativity and thoughtfulness deserve to be honored.”
Tortoise should have been overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. He had achieved the impossible, winning the most sought after prize in all the land through wit and artistry rather than wealth or power. The other suitors were stunned, unable to comprehend how they had been bested by such an unlikely competitor.
But in that moment of triumph, something dark stirred in Tortoise’s heart. Looking at the treasures that adorned the river priests, seeing the wealth of the underwater kingdom displayed before him, greed began to coil through his thoughts like a serpent. One princess, one marriage, seemed suddenly insufficient. Surely, he thought, if his song had won such an impossible prize, he could leverage this moment for even more.
“Great spirits,” Tortoise said, his voice taking on a tone of false humility that those who knew him well would have recognized as dangerous, “I am overwhelmed by this honor. But I wonder, given the unprecedented nature of my gift, might there be additional rewards? Perhaps some of the treasures I see before me, or special privileges in the river kingdom?”
The atmosphere changed instantly, as if a cloud had passed over the sun. The river priests’ expressions, which had been warm with approval, turned cold. The princess’s smile faded, replaced by a look of deep disappointment.
“Tortoise,” the chief priest said, his voice now hard as stone, “you have revealed your true nature. We offered you the greatest treasure of the river kingdom, our beloved princess, and you immediately sought to bargain for more. You won the challenge through creativity and apparent appreciation for things beyond material value. But now you show us that your heart values gold and jewels above the priceless gift you were offered.”
The princess stood, and there were tears in her eyes, not of sadness but of disillusionment. “I was prepared to love you,” she said quietly. “I was moved by your song and by what I thought it revealed about your soul. But you do not want a partner or a companion. You want possessions. You want to own rather than to cherish.”
“Wait,” Tortoise said, panic rising in his voice as he realized his terrible mistake. “I did not mean… I only thought…”
But the river priests were already retreating into the water, taking the princess with them. As they sank beneath the surface, the chief priest’s final words echoed across the pool: “You won what you sought, Tortoise, and lost it through greed in the same moment. Let this be a lesson that some prizes, once grasped too tightly, slip through your fingers like water itself.”
The light beneath the surface faded and died. The river returned to its normal appearance, giving no sign that anything extraordinary had ever occurred there. Tortoise stood on the shore, alone, while the other suitors quietly departed, some shaking their heads in amazement at how close he had come to ultimate success and how spectacularly he had failed.
Tortoise returned to his home in disgrace, carrying nothing but the memory of the song he had sung and the bitter knowledge of what his greed had cost him. The story of his triumph and his loss spread throughout Edo land, told and retold as a warning about the dangers of letting ambition and greed poison even the greatest achievements.
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The Moral Lesson
This profound Edo folktale teaches us that greed can destroy even the greatest victories and that knowing when to be satisfied is a crucial form of wisdom. Tortoise won an impossible challenge through creativity and genuine artistry, but his inability to appreciate what he had gained and his immediate desire for more cost him everything. The story warns that material greed corrupts the spirit and blinds us to the true value of what we have. Most importantly, it teaches that some prizes, particularly those involving relationships and trust, cannot coexist with a grasping, acquisitive attitude. As the Edo people say, true wealth lies not in how much we possess but in our capacity to appreciate and honor what we have been given.
Knowledge Check
Q1: What made the river princess such a valuable prize beyond her beauty?
A: The river princess represented not just physical beauty but also wisdom, connection to spiritual power, and access to the wealth of the river kingdom. She was described as possessing wisdom that surpassed even the ancient river spirits. Winning her hand meant joining two realms, gaining both a companion of extraordinary qualities and a share in the mystical power and material abundance of the underwater world.
Q2: Why was Tortoise’s gift of a song considered unprecedented while physical treasures were not?
A: The song was unprecedented because it was genuinely unique, created in that moment and never sung before. Physical objects, no matter how beautiful or rare, had all found their way into the river kingdom over the ages through sunken ships, fallen treasures, and natural processes. But a song created specifically for that occasion, existing only in its performance, was something the river kingdom had never experienced. It represented creativity and thoughtfulness rather than mere wealth.
Q3: What does the river spirits’ reaction to the song reveal about values in Edo culture?
A: The river spirits’ appreciation of the song over material wealth reveals that Edo culture values creativity, artistry, and spiritual/emotional gifts over mere physical treasures. The ability to create something beautiful and meaningful, to touch hearts and spirits through art, is portrayed as more valuable than accumulating material possessions. This reflects a worldview where intangible qualities like wisdom, creativity, and emotional depth are considered true wealth.
Q4: What specific action caused Tortoise to lose the princess after winning her hand?
A: Immediately after being granted the princess’s hand in marriage, Tortoise asked for additional rewards, treasures, and special privileges in the river kingdom. This request revealed that he valued material wealth above the priceless gift of the princess herself. His greed and inability to recognize that he had already received the greatest possible prize showed his true character and caused the river spirits to withdraw their offer.
Q5: What does the princess’s disappointment reveal about her character and expectations?
A: The princess’s tears and disappointment reveal that she valued genuine character, sincerity, and the capacity for true partnership over cleverness or material success. She had been moved by Tortoise’s song because she believed it revealed a soul capable of appreciating beauty and connection beyond material value. When his greed emerged immediately after winning her, she recognized that he saw her as a possession to be acquired rather than a person to be cherished, which was deeply hurtful to her.
Q6: How does this tale function as a teaching story in Edo culture about marriage and relationships?
A: The story teaches that successful relationships require valuing the person over possessions, appreciating what you have rather than always wanting more, and recognizing that some gifts, particularly those involving love and partnership, cannot coexist with greed. It warns against viewing marriage as a transaction or an opportunity for material gain rather than a sacred bond between souls. The tale reinforces that character matters more than cleverness, and that the capacity to cherish and appreciate is more important than the ability to acquire.
Source: Adapted from A Short History of Benin by J. U. Egharevba (1936), Appendix: Edo oral narratives including tortoise episodes.
Cultural Origin: Edo (Bini) People, Benin Kingdom, Southern Nigeria, West Africa
