How the Whale Became Read Online Free PDF

could hope to keep up with him.
    ‘I’m a genius-runner,’ he said. ‘You should respect me. I am faster than the lot of you put together. I was made different.’
    But the animals still ignored him. Even when they had to give him the prizes for winning all the races, they still ignored him.
    ‘Torto is a very swift mover,’ they said. ‘And perhaps swifter than any of us. But what sort of a creature is he? No skin!’
    And they all turned up their noses.
    *
    At first, Torto didn’t care at all. When the animals collected together, with all their fur brushed and combed and set neatly, he strolled among them, smiling happily, naked.
    ‘When will this disgusting creature learn to behave?’ cried Turkey, loudly enough for everyone to hear.
    ‘Just take no notice of him,’ said Alligator, and lumbered round, in his heavy armour, to face in the opposite direction.
    All the animals turned round to face in the opposite direction.
    When Torto went up to Grizzly Bear to ask what everyone was looking at, Grizzly Bear pretended to have a fly in his ear. When he went to Armadillo, Armadillo gathered up all his sons and daughters and led them off without a word or a look.
    ‘So that’s your game, is it?’ said Torto to himself.Then aloud, he said: ‘Never mind. Wait till it comes to the races.’
    When the races came, later in the afternoon, Torto won them all. But nobody cheered. He collected the prizes and went off to his pond alone.
    ‘They’re jealous of me,’ he said. ‘That’s why they ignore me. But I’ll punish them: I’ll go on winning all the races,’
    That night, God came to Torto and begged him to take a proper skin before it was too late. Torto shook his head:
    ‘The other animals are snobs,’ he said. ‘Just because they are covered with a skin, they think everyone else should be covered with one too. That’s snobbery. But I shall teach them not to be snobs by making them respect me. I shall go on winning all the races.’
    And so he did. But still the animals didn’t respect him. In fact, they grew to dislike him more and more.
    One day there was a very important race-meeting, and all the animals collected at the usual place. But the minute Torto arrived they simply walked away. Simply got up and walked away. Torto sat on the race-track and stared after them. He felt really left out.
    ‘Perhaps,’ he thought sadly, ‘it would be better if I had a skin. I mightn’t be able to run then, but at least I would have friends. I have no friends. Besides, after all this practice, I would still be able to run quite fast.’
    But as soon as he said that he felt angry with himself.
    ‘No!’ he cried. ‘They are snobs. I shall go on winning their races in spite of them. I shall teach them a lesson.’
    And he got up from where he was sitting and followed them. He found them all in one place, under a tree. And the races were being run.
    ‘Hey!’ he called as he came up to them. ‘What about me?’
    But at that moment, Tiger held up a sign in front of him. On the sign, Torto read: ‘Creatures without skins are not allowed to enter.’
    Torto went home and brooded. God came up to him.
    ‘Well, Torto,’ said God kindly, ‘would you like a skin yet?’
    Torto thought deeply.
    ‘Yes,’ he said at last, ‘I would like a skin. But only a very special sort of skin.’
    ‘And what sort of a skin is that?’ asked God.
    ‘I would like,’ said Torto, ‘a skin that I can put on, or take off, just whenever I please.’
    God frowned.
    ‘I’m afraid,’ he said, ‘I have none like that.’
    ‘Then make one,’ replied Torto. ‘You’re God.’
    God went away and came back within an hour.
    ‘Do you want a beautiful skin?’ he asked. ‘Or do you mind if it’s very ugly?’
    ‘I don’t care what sort of a skin it is,’ said Torto, ‘so long as I can take it off and put it back on again just whenever I please.’
    God went away again, and again came back within an hour.
    ‘Here it is. That’s