Snack for a Crocodile

By Gwenda Jeffrey

4 October 2000

The crocodile yawned; he opened his big wide mouth and yawned.  His shiny white teeth gleamed like rows of white stars in the moonlight.  He slowly opened one eye and looked down the lonely beach.  Nothing moved; all was quiet.  No sound at all.

He moved from the water's edge to a stony ledge against the tall cliffs on the beach.  The day’s sunshine had warmed, the rocks, and the crocodile let the warmth spread through his body from head to tail.  He stretched lazily.  “I'm not very hungry, yet” he thought to himself, “but perhaps later on, I could do with a little snack.”  Then he licked his lips.  “Maybe I'll just have a quiet snooze for a few minutes.” And he closed his eyes.

Not far away, in the sea, a mother turtle was swimming to the beach.  She was feeling very uncomfortable because she needed to lay her eighty-two eggs.  They were heavy insider.  She left the water and headed for the soft dry sand near the sand hills, pushing forward with her strong front flippers.  She hadn’t gone far when she is smelt a smell of danger: maybe the smell of a crocodile.  She turned and looked back at the sea but nothing was there, so she started on her way again.  Such a tiring journey it was, but bravely she pulled herself forward.

At last, she found a good patch of soft white sand, just right for a nesting place.  Using her front flippers, she began digging very fast to make a hollow, big enough for her, in the sand.  As she worked, great showers sand were thrown into the air.  Silvered by the moon they made a shimmering, sparkling curtain behind the busy turtle.

The crocodile opened his eyes and saw the clouds of sand.  He knew exactly what was happening; he’d seen turtles nesting before.

“Aha -There's my little snack” he thought, and he slid quietly from the rocky ledge to the beach.  He crawled quickly up the beach, until the flying sand sprayed his head and misted his eyes.  He was nearly there.  The turtle was facing away from him and didn't see him until – snap! the crocodile opened his mouth to grab her.  But his mouth couldn't quite grip the turtle’s wide, hard, slippery shell, and she slipped out of his grasp.

Such a shock from other turtle!  She stopped her digging and moved faster than she ever had before, down to the sea.  Half running, half sliding, the crocodile chased her.  He caught up with her again, but again his mouth didn't quite hold her, and she kept moving.  She reached the sea, with the crocodile, close behind her; she knew that she could swim faster than he could, so she rushed into the water and paddled quickly away.  Perhaps tomorrow, she would lay her eggs.  Yes, it would have to wait until tomorrow. 

The crocodile sulked.  “Oh well, I'll try for crabs instead.  Anyway, she’ll become back tomorrow (turtles always do) and I'll be waiting for her.”

A long time passed.  About two months afterwards a boy and his dad pulled into the lonely beach in their fishing boat.  The man reached for his sandwiches and spoke to the boy. “Good spot for lunch Tom, but keep an eye out for crocodiles.  There could be some in the sea around here.”

They finished eating and were just about to leave when the boy pointed to hundreds of tiny marks on the sand.  “Look, Dad. Tracks - Fresh ones!”  And they saw that the trail of a crowd of baby turtles – hatchlings - which had made their way in the dead of night, safely to the sea.  The boy and his dad followed the trail back to the nest near the sand hills; they dug down and down again further, and further still; right down into the deep round egg chamber that the mother turtle had made with her back flippers, until they found an enormous pile of white, soft, leathery eggshells.  The boy counted them: ten, twenty, fifty, seventy, eighty-two.  All of those hatchlings had broken out of their shells, pushed their way up through the sand and scuttled to the sea. 

As for the crocodile, he soon forgot about the night he failed to have a midnight snack of juicy turtle.  Whenever he was hungry he always managed to find crabs and other tasty mouthfuls.

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The Turtle and the Crocodile.

P.M.Dexter 

16 June 2000

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The story of Myrtle, the flatback turtle, and how she escaped the evil three metre saltwater crocodile called Cedric.

At about 3 a.m. on Sunday the 18th of June 2000, when the moon was full, Myrtle had the urgent urge to lay her 60 eggs in the sand above high water mark on Boomerang Beach on Bigge Island in the Kimberley region in the far north west of Australia.

As she approached the beach, she became aware that Cedric, the nasty croc, was lurking in the shallows, which is what crocs do at night.  She wasn't sure that Cedric had seen her (of course he had - crocs aren't stupid), but as a precaution, she headed for the left side of the beach and moved up alongside the rocky wall.  But she came to a dead end, blocked by rocks and had to do a U-turn.  Once clear of the rocks, she moved up the beach at an angle found a good spot and started digging a large hole in which to lay her eggs.

Meanwhile, cunning Cedric had crept straight up the beach towards Myrtle, who was facing away from him, and didn't hear him.  With this slathering jaws wide open, he sprang at her.  He tried to get her shell in his mouth, but it was very slippery, and she wrenched herself free.

Then began the big chase - Cedric after Myrtle.  Myrtle was terrified and ran for her life.  She did a wide circle across the sand before heading directly for the sea but Cedric cut across the sand trying to head her off.  In her terror, Myrtle really ran very fast but Cedric who was running parallel to her was closing fast.  Eventually, Myrtle got to the water just in time with Cedric a mere three metres away.  Once in the water, she was off like a shot.

But she hadn't yet laid her eggs.  So next night, in the moonlight at high tide, she again crept up the beach, dug the hole and deposited her eggs and covered them with sand.  Where was Cedric? He had meant to be there but, on the way, he met a large juicy fish, which he had for dinner.

Six weeks later, Myrtle’s eggs will hatch and the hatchlings (the baby turtles) will make their run for the sea.

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Tommy Turtle

Commonwealth School Paper

Queensland School Readers Book III. 

Issued by the Department of Public Instruction 1914.

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Tommy turtle lived with his father and mother and brothers and sisters in the cool water off the shores of a small island in Queensland coast.  They were a very happy family, and spent their time playing about in the sea, rushing down to the bottom when any boats would come near; for they are all shy and modest, except Tommy, who was as vain as a turtle could be.  He was very large and broad and much bigger than his brothers and sisters, and he was so proud of this that he always wanted to show off, and let everyone see how fine he was.

His mother had often told him not to go on the beach; for, when turtles are out of the water, they cannot run very quickly, and their enemies can easily overtake them.  But Tommy was so vain, that he fancied he knew much more than his mother, so one fine sunny day, he thought he would go and have a walk on the beach, and show himself to the seagulls.  He invited his little brother, Timothy to go with him, but Tim was an obedient little turtle, and would not do what his mother had told him not to do.

“Stay here and play with the fishes, Tommy,” he said; but Tommy had made up his mind to walk on the beach, and did not want to play with the fishes.

“You’re a frightened baby,” he said scornfully to Timothy, and then swam off to the beach by himself.

There were flocks of gulls and other seabirds, but, to Tommy’s surprise, they did not take any notice of him, although he walked past them, very slowly.

“Stupid things,” he said to himself, “they do not know a fine-looking turtle when they see one.”  He thought he might as well go back and play with Tim and the fishes, for it was rather lonely with no one to talk to, or to take any notice of him. 

Just as he had made up his mind to go back to the water, he saw two men walking across the sand towards him.  “Ah!” he said, “they will admire me, so I shall wait,” and he sat down again and waited till the men came nearer.

He was not disappointed this time, for as soon as the men saw him, one said to the other: “Oh, there's a big turtle, the finest I have ever seen,” and they hurried towards him.  One man carried a long stick in his hand and when he got up close to Tommy he poked him with it. “He is a splendid fellow,” said the other man. “He’ll be worth something.” 

Tommy felt very proud when he heard this, and he stretched out his head to see what the men were like; but, before he could get a good look at them, he felt a sudden hard poke with the stick, and the next moment he was turned upside down on his back.

He did not like this at all, and felt very angry with the men for being so rude to him.  But it was no use being angry, for when a turtle is turned on his back, he is quite helpless.  Presently he was made still more angry, for the men began to drag him along the sand towards the water. 

He did not understand this kind of treatment at all, and he began to wish he had done as his mother had told him, and stayed away from the beach.  But it was too late, then to be sorry.

The men dragged him right down to the water's edge, lifted him into a small boat, and began to row out to sea.

Tommy felt very frightened, and wished he was back in the waves with little Tim, so he tried to crawl over the side of the boat; but he was still on his back and could not move.

In a little while the boat came up to the side of a small ship; and the men stopped rowing, and lifted Tommy out of the boat on to the deck of the ship.

Here there were several other men, and they all crowded round and looked at Tommy.  “He is a monster,” said one, and another said:  “You were very lucky to get him, Jack.”

Tommy knew they were praising him, and felt happy again, for he was so vain, that he liked praise better than anything else in the world.

In a little while, the men lifted him up again, and put him into a tank of water, where there are several other turtles, but none so large as Tommy.  The tank was quite small and not much like the sea, but still it was able to swim, he was much more comfortable than lying on his back on the deck.  And the men would come to look at him, and say what a fine fellow he was, so he felt quite content.

After he had been in the tank for some time, the ship stopped, and he, with all the other turtles, were lifted out and carried off the boat to a big building, which he soon learned was the Fish Market.  Here a lot of men came and looked at him, and at last two of them carried him away in a cart. 

He was beginning to get used to being moved about, and so was no longer afraid; and as every one that saw him set nice things about him, he felt happy and prouder than ever.

The two men in the cart carried him to a shop in the city, and here still more men looked at him and praised him.

“We'll put him at the door, where everyone can see him.” said the man who had brought him in the cart.  “Yes, and we’ll write on his back,” cried another, and they all agreed that would be a good idea.  Tommy did not know what writing meant, and he was quite excited know what they were going to do with him.

In a few minutes one the men brought a pot of whitewash and a brush and wrote on his back in big letters -SOUP ON FRIDAY, and all the others laughed and said it was splendid.

Then Tommy was taken outside and fastened in front of the shop for everyone to see.

He felt so proud that he hardly knew what to do with himself, for everyone the passed stopped to look at him.  Some said “That's funny,” and some said “We must come to see him on Friday,” and they all said he was as fine a turtle, as they had ever seen, till Tommy was as vain as he could be. 

He did not know what the man had put on his back, and as he had never heard of soup, you would not have minded if he had.  So for three days, he stood on the mat in front of the fish shop, growing vainer and vainer, and thinking he was quite the most beautiful thing in the world.

On Friday morning, however, was not put outside, but was taken into the kitchen to be made into soup.

“Oh, oh, oh,” he cried, “if only I had been not so vain and had done as my mother told me!”  But it was too late then to be sorry, for the next moment he was no more.

And on that day the people outside, when they passed, saw an empty turtle shell, and on it was written --SOUP TO-DAY.

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