Category Archives: Book

Darwin and the True Story of the Dinosaurs

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Title: Darwin and the True Story of the Dinosaurs
Original title: Darwin e la vera storia dei dinosauri
Author(s): Luca Novelli
Release year: 2001 (org), 2017 (eng)
Publisher: Editoriale Scienza (org), Chicago Review Press (eng)

Why in Database: The book introducing person of Charles Darwin (directed at younger people) must have had some turtle elements – although surprisingly, in the text they only appear in one paragraph (and once in the name “Galapagos Turtle Islands”), they make up for it however, through the presence in the graphics (4 drawings, one photo).
The book was also published in English, but we do not have access to this version, so at the moment, the quote is only in Polish, it is about turtles living in the Galapagos and the fact that the shape and color of the shell can be used to determine from which island a given turtle comes:

Na przykład, pomyślmy o miejscowych gigantycznych żółwiach: obserwując kształt i kolor skorupy, można zgadnąć, z której wyspy pochodzą.
Na każdej wyspie żyje inny gatunek żółwi, zięb, iguan, przypominający w mniejszym lub większym stopniu gatunki żyjące na kontynencie.
Wydaje się, że każda z wysp „wyprodukowała” gatunek najlepiej zaadaptowany do lokalnego środowiska.


Author: XYuriTT

Znak żółwia

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Title: Znak żółwia
Author(s): Eugeniusz Paukszta
Release year: 1961. Reprints in 1965, 1979 and 1986
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, m.in.

Why in Database: As title itself may suggest, this book is very turtle. The main meaning of “turtle” in this book is the fact that one of the heroes took care of the turtle he found in the house after the flood, there are many mentions in the book about this turtle, about catching frogs for him as food, etc. – we do not list all of them, but only a few of the most interesting . The second meaning is the symbolism resulting from this, because of caring for this turtle, a group of youthful main characters at one point considers themselves to be “turtle clan” (they use this name also when they found a boat, they call her “turtle” and themselves, turtle clan). The last turtle reference, in some way preceding the others, is the name of the action-genocide planned by the Nazis during the Second World War, which they gave the code name “Aktion Schildkröte”, meaning “Action turtle”. The heroes come across files with information that they pass on to the authorities, and the authorities make them public.

This is one of the few books that we have in the TD database that came out originally in Polish and have never been translated – we decided to leave the quoted texts in the original language and present the content descriptively.

The first mention of the turtle is an explanation of where it came from (during the flood, the water broke into the house, after cleaning most of the dirt it had brought, it turned out that the turtle came along with it, and the householders decided to take care of him):

Teraz z dala już pohukiwał, poszturchując przy okazji Tolka, aż ten piszczał płaczliwie.
— Wczoraj wieczorem zawracał mi głowę swoimi bunkrami. Bzik mu jakiś strzelił do głowy, że powinniśmy odszukać wejście, tam miał się znajdować sztab jakiegoś wielkiego odcinka, całe miasto pod ziemią… Jeszcze mi swego piekielnego żółwia pakował na kolana — bez zainteresowania powiedział Heniek.
— Co za żółw? — zainteresowała się Otrębska.
— Pani nie wie? Cudna historia. Jeszcze jeden niedoszły topielec z czasu powodzi. U Malickich woda sięgała do pół okien i od południa, skąd biła fala, wyrwała futrynę. Przez dwa dni muł wynosiliśmy, ryby nawet były, pijawki, żaby, cała menażeria. W kuchni za piecem jeszcze się nie zdążyło zrobić porządku. Siedzimy wszyscy, Malicki opowiada partyzancką historię, jak to pod Bieniakoniami dopadli oddział SS, wyrżnęli ich, słuchamy z otwartymi gębami, aż tu nagle zza pieca stacza się coś wraz z kupą błota, mało tego jeszcze, rusza się… Cień, nic nie widać. Roman się oczywiście wystraszył, wskoczył na stołek, bo myślał, że mysz.
— Ja ci…!
— Proszę, uderz w stół… — Heniek przezornie przetoczył się na ławie dalej od długich i kościstych nóg przyjaciela. — Lubusz pierwszy skoczył, wiadomo, opiekun małych stworzeń, za nim Benek. Okazało się, żółw. Duża, rozrosła sztuka. No i siedzi w kuchni, wygląda, że chwali sobie nowe życie. Benek go nosi co dnia do wielkiej kałuży, aby popływał.

Further description of the turtle’s fate, we learn that he was evicted from house, moved to a nearby puddle where, with some initial shyness, he dived and finally settled down:

Żółwia usunęła Malicka z domu już w parę dni po powrocie z powodziowego biwaku w PGR-ze. Przejęty niespodzianym nabytkiem, Benek zaczął znosić nowemu ulubieńcowi przeróżne żuki, pijawki, wreszcie ropuchy i żaby, w końcu cierpliwość kobiety się wyczeRepublic of South Africała.
Złapała syna za kark każąc mu wynosić się wraz z nowym pupilem i jego skaczącą po kuchni spiżarnią.
Niedaleko domu pośrodku wybujałej łąki była niewielka sadzawka, porośnięta u brzegów tatarakiem, szlamista, siedlisko mnóstwa żab. Bocian, rezydujący na stodole majątkowej, często grasował w tym miejscu. Tam właśnie pomaszerował Benek wraz z ulubieńcem i mocno niechętnym do nowego przybysza, wyraźnie zazdrosnym Lubuszem.
Roman z Heńkiem również zaciekawili się przeprowadzką. Żółw, złożony u skraju cuchnącego bajorka, długo tkwił w skorupie, później niesłychanie powoli wysunął głowę, zerkał maleńkimi oczyma, jakby je mrużył od słońca, niezdarnie poruszył jedną łapą, drugą, zatrzymał się w takiej pozie, tkwił znieruchomiały jak kamień.
Stanowczo się nie spodobało to Lubuszowi. Szczeknął ponaglająco, potem podskoczył do skrytego w skorupie stworzenia. Benek sczerwieniał ze złości. Pognał psa, aż się zakurzyło.
— Nic z tego nie będzie. Tkwić potrafi tak do wieczora.
— Co ty, Heniek, możesz wiedzieć. Żebym ci nie powiedział, myślałbyś do dziś, że to wielka żaba nie żółw.
Żółw drgnął leciutko, gdy nie bacząc na błoto Benek przyklęknął przy nim, łagodnie pogładził po skorupie, czule zaszeptał. Leciutko, ostrożnie wysunęła się głowa, małe oczka zobaczyły palec Benka, jak tyle już razy poprzednio. Drgnęły łapy, żółw ruszył w ślad za palcem. Benek pakował się w wodę, grzązł w błocku, ale nie ustawał w roli przewodnika, twarz jego promieniała serdeczną radością i triumfem.
Żółw stanął, pokręcił główką, zanurzyły się już w błocku przednie łapy. I nagle, ani się spostrzegli, runął truchtem do wody jak najlepszy nurek — smyrgnął w niej pod powierzchnią, jeszcze go chwilę widzieli, wybiły na powierzchnię pęcherzyki powietrza, zabulgotało i już śladu nie było.
Chłopak odtańczył na brzegu taniec wojenny.
— A co? A co? — pokrzykiwał.
Benek triumfował na całej linii. Przez pół dnia wygrywał Kubiakowi marchewkę na nosie.
W taki sposób Benek obłaskawił żółwia. Ciągle też miał coś do roboty przy swoim ulubieńcu.
Łapał żaby po okolicznych łąkach i znosił je w czapce na bajorko, wpuszczał tam ryby.
Marzył przy tymi aby gdzieś zdobyć drugiego żółwia.
— Nie byłoby mu smutno, może mieliby dzieci…
Wtedy, gdy się tak opiekował swoim zaskorupionym pupilem czyj gdy baraszkował po podwórku z kudłatym Lubuszem, tracił cwaniacki wyraz twarzy, zostawał śniady, uśmiechnięty, miły chłopak o żywych, połyskujących ciekawością oczach. Takiego go Roman lubił najwięcej.

Two more fragments about turtles, in the first one, one of the heroes paints the image of a turtle on a board to place it next to a puddle in which reptile lives, in the second this drawing is mentioned again, one of the heroes use name “under the sign of a turtle” for their group for the first time:

Co tam rysujesz? Nie wiedziałem, że masz takie talenty — schylił się Roman nad deską.
— Dla Benka. Ustawimy to nad jego błotkiem z żółwiami… Wiecie… — spojrzał na nich chmurno, zaczepnie. — Ten Benek to jedyny możliwy facet w naszym gronie. On przynajmniej z byle gówna nie robi tajemnic.
Wiesiek skrzywił się, zaraz jednak szepnął z wysiłkiem:
— Przepraszam cię, Heniek.
— Nie mądrz się, gdy nie wiesz, o co chodzi — zniecierpliwił się Roman. — Spójrz na Wieśka, jak on wygląda. Właśnie przyszliśmy do ciebie po radę. A ten żółw to naprawdę ci się udał. Benek będzie się cieszył. — Chwalił nie tylko po to, by zjednać nadąsanego Kubiaka.
Żółw mocnymi konturami wymalowany na desce rzeczywiście bardzo mu się podobał. Heniek gładko przełknął pochlebstwo, nie zamierzał jednak rezygnować tak łatwo.
Zaburczał:
— Po radę. Do mnie. Widocznie szanownym panom własnych łepetyn było za mało, co?

— Gadanie — słowo to Heniek wypowiedział mniej pewnie. Ale na zakład nie chciał się zgodzić.
— Nie chcecie, to nie. Wolę już moje żółwie od was. One mają większą smykałkę.
Sami z Tolkiem będziemy radzić… — parsknął im śmiechem prosto w twarze, odmaszerował zawadiackim krokiem, z rękami w kieszeniach. Poszedł do swojego blotka na łące, gdzie już z daleka czerniała tablica z wymalowanym na niej wizerunkiem żółwia. Roman spojrzał w tamtym kierunku, uśmiechnął się.
— To ci dopiero kompania spod znaku żółwia.
— Kto ? — Heniek zastanawiał się nad czymś, nie słyszał słów przyjaciela.
— Kto? My wszyscy…

“Creation” of the clan – one of the heroes proposes to call the boat “Turtle”, and for their group, they choose name “clan under the turtle sign”:

— Trzeba będzie ochrzcić tę łódź? Jaką nazwę jej damy?
— Mamy czas, odłożymy na później.
— Oblewanie można odłożyć, ale nazwę dziś wymyślimy. Ja mam pomysł. Zgodzicie się? — podniósł ślepia, przewracał nimi, był bardzo przejęty.
— Gadaj — zniecierpliwił się Heniek.
— Nazwiemy ją „Żółw”, dobrze? Bo to wszystko tutaj się kręci koło tych żółwi.
— Wszystko, jak wszystko. Ty się kręcisz — sprostował Kubiak.
— Tablicę kto malował, ja? — odparował malec, łyskając czarnymi oczyma.
— Dobra. Może być „Żółw”. To nawet dobrze brzmi. Bo właściwie Benek ma rację.
Patrzcie, koło bunkrów znaleźliśmy żółwia. Tam, gdzie nas spotkały te wszystkie przygody. Pod jego znakiem zaczęły się wszystkie awantury.
— A my nazwiemy się klanem spod znaku żółwia. Pycha, no nie?

Two (selected) fragments about “Aktion Schildkröte” and why, according to one of the heroes, akction never happened (the turtles brought the Germans bad luck and did not allow the murder of the Poles):

Wszędzie napisano „streng geheim”, to znaczy ściśle tajne — powiedział. — To może być nawet ciekawe. O, Benek, jest coś dla ciebie…
— Dla mnie? — patrząc na wyblakły granat cieniutkiej teczki Benek zdziwił się tylko już grzecznościowo.
— Tu jest napis: Aktion Schildkröte. To znaczy Akcja Żółwia. I też ściśle tajne.
— Żółw? To naprawdę dla mnie. Zobacz, Wiesiek, może są tam jakieś plany miejsca ukrycia skarbów. Mogło i tak być, nieprawda?
— Ja mam to wszystko gdzieś, razem z żółwiami — naburmuszył się Heniek, usiadł na stercie gruzu. — Więcej się już nie bawię w poszukiwacza dziwów. Albo szkielety, albo tajne esesmańskie papiery.

Potem Malicki odwozi brygadiera, malcy pędzą do swoich żółwi, Roman morduje się przy motorze, najpewniej w tym roku nic z tego nie będzie, trzeba kilka części wymienić, nietypowe, tokarka iść musi w robotę. Więc chyba w Warszawie?
Za to kadłub błyszczy świeżo pociągnięty lakierem. U dzioba po obu stronach czarnymi konturami naznaczony rysunek żółwia. Chłopcy przystają przy nim, wodzą zachwyconym wejrzeniem.
— Żółwie to fajne zwierzaki. Niemiachy nie połapały się, źle swą akcję nazwali, to żółwie przyniosły im pecha, nie zezwoliły wymordować Polaków — z całą powagą tłumaczy Benek Tolkowi.

Author: XYuriTT

Spod znaku żółwia

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Title: Spod znaku żółwia
Author(s): Konstanty Stecki
Release year: 1979
Publisher: Nasza Księgarnia

Why in Database: A story about the hero’s adventures during the Second World War, starting just before its beginning and following its development from the perspective of a person living in Poland under occupation, then as forced labor in Germany and again activity in Poland. Two turtle fragments appear in the text.

This is one of the few books that we have in the TD database that came out originally in Polish and have never been translated – we decided to leave the quoted texts in the original language and present the content descriptively.
The first fragment is bigger, it describes the meaning of turtle symbolism during the occupation (this symbol was used as an encouragement for those who are forced by the occupant to work on its behalf, they should do it as slowly as possible, in order to slows the war machine, without big endangering however, as would be the case with open resistance):

Już byłem niedaleko domu, gdy spostrzegłem młodego chłopca, który manipulował tuż przy murze kamienicy. Widać usłyszał moje kroki, bo odwrócił głowę i natychmiast szyb-ko się oddalił. Spojrzałem na ścianę. Widniał tam rysunek żółwia. Aż przystanąłem! Wiadomo, żółwie są symbolem powolności. Mówi się przecież o „żółwim tempie”. Od tego na murze lenistwo aż promieniowało. Widać było, że ledwie się porusza, a miał tak znudzoną i rozleniwioną minę, aż mi się zachciało ziewać. Wykonawca, który miał chyba nie więcej lat niż ja, używał czegoś w rodzaju sporego szablonu czy może pieczęci. Nic więc dziwnego, że spotykane na murach „malunki” posiadały identyczny kształt i było ich wszędzie masę. Nikt nie miał wątpliwości, ani Polacy, ani Niemcy, co ów wizerunek sugeruje. „Pracuj wolno, w żółwim tempie”! Zresztą znak żółwia nie był jedynym rysunkiem na murach Warszawy. Najczęściej spotykało się swastykę dyndającą na szubienicy. Były to zazwyczaj bazgroły, wykonane smołą lub węglem. Natomiast ‘równie starannie, niemal artystycznie jak żółw, wykonywany był rysunek dwóch spaśnych wieprzy, rozwalonych w fotelach z napisem pod spodem: „Tylko świnie siedzą w kinie”! Kiedy tak z prawdziwą satysfakcją przyglądałem się najbardziej leniwemu z widzianych przeze mnie żółwi, ktoś mnie nagle złapał za kark i wrzasnął:

In the second fragment, the heroes operating in Germany plan actions to the detriment of their “employers”, the main character mentions that they should choose turtle as their symbol:

No właśnie. Naszym znakiem powinien być żółw.. Milczące i powolne stworzenie — powiedziałem.

Author: XYuriTT

Turtles All the Way Down

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Title: Turtles All the Way Down
Author(s): John Green
Release year: 2017
Publisher: Dutton Books

Why in Database: In Green’s book, the turtles, apart from the title of course, appears in four places, (in polish version, thanks to the translator, in five).

The first mention is a fragment about a turtle in a river:

On a half-submerged tree near the river’s bank, a softshell turtle noticed us and plopped into the water. The river was lousy with turtles.

The second mention is about Ninja Turtles:

I would lie in bed with her and we would watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the TV in her room. Her eyes were open and everything, and she could breathe by herself, and I would lie there next to her and watch TMNT.

The third mention is only in polish translation (“w żółwim tempie” means “slow as turtles”):

We were still inching our way through the student parking lot.

Wciąż posuwałyśmy się przez parking w żółwim tempie.

Another mention is the well-known anecdote about “Turtles All the Way Down“, to which the title refers (and a different version of which appeared e.g. in The Folklore of Discworld):

”Okay, so there’s this scientist, and he’s giving a lecture to a huge audience about the history of the earth, and he explains that the earth was formed billions of years ago from a cloud of cosmic dust, and then for a while the earth was very hot, but then it cooled enough for oceans to form. And single-celled life emerged in the oceans, and then over billions of years, life got more abundant and complex, until two hundred fifty thousand or so years ago, humans evolved, and we started using more advanced tools, and then eventually built spaceships and everything.
So he gives this whole presentation about the history of earth and life on it, and then at the end, he asks if there are any questions. An old woman in the back raises her hand, and says, ”That’s all fine and good, Mr. Scientist, but the truth is, the earth is a flat plane resting on the back of a giant turtle.’
”The scientist decides to have a bit of fun with the woman and responds, ”Well, but if that’s so, what is the giant turtle standing upon?’
”And the woman says, ”It is standing upon the shell of another giant turtle.’
”And now the scientist is frustrated, and he says, ”Well, then what is that turtle standing upon?’
”And the old woman says, ”Sir, you don’t understand. It’s turtles all the way down.”’
I laughed. ”It’s turtles all the way down.”
”It’s turtles all the way fucking down, Holmesy. You’re trying to find the turtle at the bottom of the pile, but that’s not how it works.”
”Because it’s turtles all the way down,” I said again, feeling something akin to a spiritual revelation.

The last mention is a reference to the anecdote described above:

As Daisy switched the song to a romantic ballad that she and Mychal were singing, I started thinking about turtles all the way down.

Author: XYuriTT

Wit and Wisdom of Discworld

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Title: Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
Author(s): Terry Pratchett (original author of the text), Stephen Briggs (he selected quotes)
Release year: 2007
Publisher: Doubleday

Why in Database: This book is a collection of the best (according to the selection, Stephen Briggs) fragments from all discworld books released before publication of this book, that is from The Colour of Magic to Making Money. Except for two fragments from the Small Gods (which are so full of turtle elements that there had to be a strict selection for the purposes of a note about them), all the other quotes had already appeared in TurtleDex, in the entries about individual books. The book is divided into chapters, quotations from one book are one chapter.

The Colour of Magic:

There was, for example, the theory that A’Tuin had come from nowhere and would continue at a uniform crawl, or steady gait, into nowhere, for all time. This theory was popular among academics.
An alternative, favored by those of a religious persuasion, was that A’Tuin was crawling from the Birthplace to the Time of Mating, as were all the stars in the sky which were, obviously, also carried by giant turtles. When they arrived they would briefly and passionately mate, for the first and only time, and from that fiery union new turtles would be born to carry a new pattern of worlds. This was known as the Big Bang hypothesis.

Sourcery:

There was no analogy for the way in which Great A’Tuin the world turtle moved against the galactic night. When you are ten thousand miles long, your shell pocked with meteor craters and frosted with comet ice, there is absolutely nothing you can realistically be like except yourself.
So Great A’Tuin swam slowly through the interstellar deeps like the largest turtle there has ever been, carrying on its carapace the four huge elephants that bore on their backs the vast, glittering waterfall-fringed circle of the Discworld, which exists either because of some impossible blip on the curve of probability or because the gods enjoy a joke as much as anyone.

Pyramids:

He knew about tortoises. There were tortoises in the Old Kingdom. They could be called a lot of things—vegetarians, patient, thoughtful, even extremely diligent and persistent sex-maniacs—but never, up until now, fast. Fast was a word particularly associated with tortoises because they were not it.

Guards! Guards!:

Eventually Great A ’Tuin would reach the end of the universe. Eventually the stars would go out. Eventually Nobby might have a bath, although that would probably involve a radical re-thinking of the nature of Time.

Small Gods (the first two quotes are not present in our note) :

“It’s a big bull,” said the tortoise.
“The very likeness of the Great God Om in one of his worldly incarnations!” said Brutha
proudly. “And you say you’re him?”
“I haven’t been well lately,”

“How should I know? I don’t know!” lied the tortoise.
“But you…you’re omnicognisant,” said Brutha.
“That doesn’t mean I know everything.”
Brutha bit his lip. “Um. Yes. It does.”

Mountains rise and fall, and under them the Turtle swims onward. Men live and die, and the Turtle Moves. Empires grow and crumble, and the Turtle Moves. Gods come and go, and still the Turtle Moves. The Turtle Moves.”

Carpe Jugulum:

The Prophet Brutha said that Om helps those who help one another.”
“And does he?”
“To be honest, there are a number of opinions of what was meant.”
“How many?”
“About one hundred and sixty, since the Schism of ten-thirty A.M., February twenty-third. That
was when the Re-United Free Chelonianists (Hubward Convocation) split from the Re-United Free
Chelonianists (Rimward Convocation). It was rather serious.”
“Blood spilled?” said Agnes. She wasn’t really interested, but it took her mind off whatever
might be waking up in a minute.
“No, but there were fisticuffs and a deacon had ink spilled on him.”

The Last Hero (in the book, the second quote is longer, but we selected only this turtle fragment):

The place where the story happened was a world on the back of four elephants perched on the shell of a giant turtle. That’s the advantage of space. It’s big enough to hold practically anything, and so, eventually, it does.
People think that it is strange to have a turtle ten thousand miles long and an elephant more than two thousand miles tall, which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably originally designed for cooling the blood. It believes mere size is amazing.
There’s nothing amazing about size. Turtles are amazing, and elephants are quite astonishing. But the fact that there’s a big turtle is far less amazing than the fact that there is a turtle anywhere.

“I don’t know,” said Carrot. “You know, I’m not sure I ever really believed it before. You know… about the turtle and the elephants and everything. Seeing it all like this makes me feel very… very…”

Author: XYuriTT

A Slip of the Keyboard

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Title: A Slip of the Keyboard
Author(s): Terry Pratchett
Release year: 2014
Publisher: Doubleday

Why in Database: This book is a collection of texts that Pratchett wrote over the years, essays, texts for various magazines, speeches that he made or someone read on his behalf at conventions, etc. Almost the entire first text is about turtles, but we chose to skip the large non-turtle pieces and present it in four smaller pieces.)

As noted above, the first four fragments are taken from the text Thought Progress, which describes the beginning of the plot ideas for Small Gods:

Post arrives. One letter on Holly Hobbie notepaper, asking for a signed photograph. All right, all right, let’s do some research. What we need to know for the purposes of the next Discworld plot is something about tortoises. Got vague idea that a talking tortoise is essential part of the action. Don’t know why; tortoises just surfaced from racial unconsciousness. Possibly prompted by own tortoises surfacing from hibernation and currently doing Bertrand Russell impersonations in the greenhouse.
Find book on tortoises in box in spare room..”>1

Interesting footnote in tortoise book reminds us that most famous tortoise in history must be the one that got dropped on the head of famous Greek philosopher … what’s the bugger’s name? Very famous man, wherever the tortoise-dropping set get together. Sudden pressing desire to explore this whole issue, including what the tortoise thought about it all. Keep thinking it was Zeno, but am sure it wasn’t.
Finding out that it was Aeschylus occupies twenty minutes. Not philosopher, but playwright. In his hands, early drama took on a high-religious purpose, serving as a forum for resolving profound moral conflicts and expressing a grandeur of thought and language. And then a high-pitched whistling noise and good night. Look up Zeno out of interest. Ah, he was the one who said that, logically, you couldn’t catch a tortoise..”>2

Wonder why the eagle dropped the bloody thing on the playwright. It couldn’t have been to smash it open, like the book says. Eagles not daft. Greece is all rock, how come eagle with all Greece to choose from manages pinpoint precision on bald head of Aeschylus? How do you pronounce Aeschylus, anyway?.”>3

Start wondering, perhaps not eagle’s fault after all, it just had job to do, it had been flying too many missions, jeez, you get thrown out of eagle air force if you start worrying about the innocent philosophers you’re dropping your tortoises on. Hatch-22. No.
Stare at screen.
No. It was obviously tortoise’s idea all along. Had grudge against playwright, perhaps tortoises had been insulted in latest play, perhaps offended at speed-ist jokes, perhaps had seen tortoiseshell spectacles: you dirty rat, you got my brother. So hijacked eagle, hanging on to desperate bird’s legs like the tortoise in the old Friends of the Earth logo, giving directions in muffled voice, vector 19, beepbeepbeep, Geronimooooo.…
Stare at screen.
Wonder if eagle has anything else a desperate tortoise could hang on to. Look up biology of birds in encyclopedia in box on stairs. Gosh. Supper. Stare at screen. Turn ideas over and over. Tortoises, bald head, eagles. Hmm. No, can’t be playwright, what sort of person would tortoises instantly dislike?.”>4

The next piece comes from the text No Worries where Terry mentions his trip to Australia and signing books:

One lady has made me an entire box of origami turtles. No worries..”>5

In the Straight from the Heart, via the Groin, Terry explains what he is proud of in his work:

The books I’m really most proud of having written are the children’s books. It was brought home to me today when I was talking to the kids, why this is. They started asking about the turtles. Then they continued asking about the turtles. And I said, “Okay, no turtle questions.”
They said: “Okay, well, about the elephants then …”.”>6

In Discworld Turns 21 Pratchett mentions species of turtle named after him:

My name’s been given to an extinct species of turtle, and various characters are commemorated in the Latin names of small plants and, I think, insects..”>7

There are two references to A’Tuin in Whose Fantasy Are You?:

I write about people who live on the Discworld, a world that’s flat and goes through space on the back of a giant turtle. .”>8

(They might be—the last I heard, physicists have discovered all these extra dimensions around the place which we can’t see because they’re rolled up small; and you don’t believe in giant world-carrying turtles?).”>9

In DOCTOR WHO? Author again (there are some repetitions of this type in various texts, after all, each of them constituted a separate whole, only this book collected them) mentions turtle species named after him:

They’ve taken me around the world a dozen times, I’ve had a species of turtle (an extinct species, I’m afraid) named after me, and I think I’ve signed more than three hundred thousand books;.”>10

Author: XYuriTT

The Folklore of Discworld

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Title: The Folklore of Discworld
Author(s): Terry Pratchett, Jacqueline Simpson
Release year: 2008
Publisher: Doubleday

Why in Database: This book takes a look at various “things” used by Pratchett in his Discworld series. The most important and interesting part for TD is definitely the piece about A’Tuin, in this large fragment we have an interesting overview of the meaning of turtles in earthly folklore and mythology. In general, there are ten turtle fragments, we shown all of them below, most of them mentioning turtles in the Discworld context.

The first is a mention of a woman waiting in line for an autograph (not for herself) and her approach to Discworld:

She herself never, ever read novels of any kind, let alone Fantasy fiction. ‘I only want facts. What’s the point of reading about things that aren’t real? As for a world flying through space on a turtle…’

Short fragment about the nature of the Discworld:

The other is round-like-a-plate, and is moved at a more sedate pace by a team of elephants and a turtle. This is the Discworld.

The aforementioned long piece about turtles in earthly terms (with reference to Turtles all the way down):

THE ELEPHANTS AND THE TURTLE
The absolutely central, incontrovertible fact about the Discworld is that it is a disc. At least, it’s incontrovertible unless you adhere to the Omnian religion, in which case you must controvert it like billy-o. This disc rests upon four gigantic elephants (named Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phon and Jerakeen), whose bones are living iron, and whose nerves are living gold. These elephants themselves stand upon the shell of the Great A’Tuin, a ten-thousand-mile-long star turtle, which is swimming through space in a purposeful manner. What this purpose may be, is unknown.
A child once asked, ‘Why does the Turtle swim?’
A wise man replied, ‘Child, there is no Why. IT … IS … SO.’
And that could be said of many things.
On Earth ‘everyone knows’ that people used to believe that their planet was also flat, if they thought about it at all. In fact for several thousand years a growing number of educated people have shared the knowledge that it is a globe. Generally speaking it was wisest not to shout about it in the street, though, because of the unrest this could cause. No doubt scholars in the ancient Hindu India partook of this knowledge, but since truth comes in many forms, the age-old epic poems of India declare the world to be a disc.
Further details of Hindu cosmology vary. According to one myth, there are four (or eight) great elephants named the diggaja or di gaja, ‘elephants of the directions’, guarding the four (or eight) compass points of this disc, with a type of god called a lokapala riding on the back of each one. But the oldest texts do not claim that they carry the world. According to another myth, however, the world rests on the back of a single elephant, Maha-Padma, and he is standing on a tortoise named Chukwa.
Finally, it is said in yet another myth that the god Vishnu once took on the form of a vast tortoise or turtle (k rma), so huge that Mount Meru, the sacred central mountain of the world, could rest on his back and be used as a stick to churn the ocean. At some stage, though nobody knows just when, these insights began to blend, with the result that some (but not all) Hindu mythographers now say the world is a disc supported by four elephants supported by a turtle.
Variations of the myth spread out from India to other areas of the globe.1 One that has proved particularly popular involves an infinite regression of turtles. It is said that an arrogant Englishman once mocked a Hindu by asking what the turtle stood on; untroubled, the Hindu calmly replied, ‘Ah, Sahib, after that it’s turtles all the way down.’2 Another variation, briefly mentioned in the film A Thief of Baghdad, involves different creatures but is of value because it adds one vital factor, that of movement. It tells how the world rests on seven pillars, carried on the shoulders of a huge genie, who stands on an eagle, which perches on a bull, which stands on a fish – and this fish swims through the seas of eternity.
Chinese mythology also knows of an immense cosmic turtle, but with a difference. According to the Chinese, our world is not balanced upon the creature’s back (with or without elephants), but is sloshing about inside it. Its plastron contains the oceans upon which all our continents are floating, and when we look up at the dome of the night sky we are seeing the inside of its vast carapace, studded with innumerable stars.
Clearly, fragments of information have drifted through the multiverse and taken root here and there. But the full and glorious Truth is known only on the Discworld. The Turtle Moves!

1.And some may be locally grown. Humanity seems predisposed to see the turtle as a massive carrier.
2. Yes, we know that there are several versions of this story!

Another mention of a turtle in the context of the Discworld:

Yet the legend itself poses great problems. If the Four Elephants mark the four quarters, where did the Fifth stand? Centrally, to form the pattern known as a quincunx? If it slipped and fell from the Turtle’s back, how could it strike the Disc – did it fall upwards?

Fragment about Om from Small Gods, one of Vishnu’s avatars is also mentioned:

The priests also claim that Om made the world, and revealed to them that it is not a disc carried by a turtle, but a perfectly smooth ball moving in a perfect circle round the sun, which is another perfectly smooth ball; this has become a vital dogma in the Omnian Church. Actually, Om now denies that he ever said this, or that he made the world – and if he had, he says, he wouldn’t have made it as a ball. Silly idea, a ball. People would fall off. Come to that, Om has only very vague memories of having met any prophets, and doesn’t recognize the things he is supposed to have said to them.
Om’s views on these matters are known because he spent three years or so in the world in the form of a tortoise. This was an embarrassing accident. He had meant to manifest himself briefly in some suitably impressive avatar – most likely, a bull – but what he got was a tortoise. Not a vast mountainbearing tortoise such as the Hindu god Vishnu once chose, but a mere common-or-garden tortoise.

Another fragment about Om, also about Aeschylus, another famous case of “throwing turtles”:

To make matters worse, Om-as-tortoise found his physical life in danger. Far too many people he met knew that ‘there’s good eating on one of those’. He was also being hunted by an eagle who had found out that if you carry off a tortoise in your talons and drop it on a rock from a great height, the result is a shattered shell and a rather fiddly meal. If, on the other hand, you drop it on somebody’s head, then you are recreating the Earth legend which claims that the Ancient Greek Dramaist Aeschylus was killed when a flying eagle dropped a tortoise on his bald head, mistaking it for a rock.
That eagles in some places have learned to drop tortoises in order to crack them open has been attested to by various sources, and our suspension of disbelief in a bird’s ability to target humans in the course of breaking its lunch was occasioned by a Daily Telegraph obituary of Brigadier John Mackenzie. In the Second World War he worked with partisans in the mountains of Greece, and ‘… on one occasion a brigade rifle meeting on a mountain was disrupted when a flock of vultures carrying various small tortoises in their talons decided to drop them on the mountainside to crack their shells. Two soldiers sustained fractured skulls from the tortoises and there were other injuries; the meeting was abandoned.’
Om has been affected by his spell as a humble tortoise.

Another fragment is a quote directly from one of the footnotes from Sourcery, a description of Chimera:

It have thee legges of an mermade, the hair of an tortoise, the teeth of an fowel, and the winges of an snake. Of course, I have only my worde for it, the beast having the breathe of an furnace and the temperament of an rubber balloon in a hurricane. [Sourcery]

Mention of the events from book Pyramids:

Furthermore, Teppic had recently visited Ephebe, where he had heard the philosopher Xeno expounding his famous logical proof that if you shoot an arrow at a tortoise you cannot possibly hit it.

Quoted fragment from Jingo and a comment regarding the real world:

‘It puts me in mind,’ said Leonard, ‘of those nautical stories of giant turtles that sleep on the surface, thus causing sailors to think they are an island. Of course, you don’t get giant turtles that small.’ [Jingo]
In our world, in the absence of any turtles larger than, say, a decent-sized dining-table, traditional nautical lore warns instead of the risks involved in landing on a really, really big fish or whale which happens to be dozing on the surface.

The last fragment, a bit of Latin:

In Cambridge University Library and in the British Library there are manuscripts of a Latin Bestiary (that is, a Book of Beasts) dating from the early twelfth century. It includes a section about the sea-monster which gets mistaken for an island, beginning thus: There is an ocean monster which is called an aspido delone in Greek. On the other hand, it is called an aspido testudo in Latin. It is also called a Whale … This animal lifts its back out of the open sea above the watery waves … [transl. T. H. White]
Testudo is Latin for ‘tortoise’. Delone makes no sense, and must be a mistake for chelone, which is indeed a Greek word, meaning ‘turtle’. Why on earth should English monks a thousand years ago get the traditional whale mixed up with tortoises and turtles? Some echo from the Discworld, maybe? As for aspido, this must refer to a snake of some sort, so it would seem that the Sea Serpent has somehow got into the mix. It makes a good yarn even better.

Author: XYuriTT

Turtle Recall

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Title: Turtle Recall
Author(s): Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs
Release year: 2012
Publisher: Gollancz

Why in Database: “Turtle recall” is an encyclopaedic position, most of the book are notes describing various aspects of the Discworld, characters, places, organizations, and so on. In addition, at the very beginning we have an introduction from Stephen Briggs (twithout any turtle elements), most of the content is an encyclopedic part (at least 24 mentions in the text (maybe there is more) and 2 graphic ones, one with the entry in which turtles are also mentioned, and one only in form of graphic) , at the end there is also an archival interview with Pratchett (with one turtle mention), in explaination of the rules of the game “mutilate Mr. Onion” (which also includes one turtle mention).

First fragment, in the introduction:

Several years ago now, I recorded a couple of lines to go into Dave Greenslade’s From the Discworld album . . . this was another happy accident, as I’d only gone along to the studio to dress up as Death for some publicity pix. From those two lines (‘The turtle moves’ and ‘Nevertheless, the turtle does move’), I have now moved on to recording some of the unabridged books for Isis Publishing.

In the entry Astrolabe

Astrolabe. One of the Disc’s finest astrolabes is kept in a large, star-filled room in KRULL. It includes the entire Great A’Tuin-Elephant-Disc system wrought in brass and picked out with tiny jewels.
Around it the stars and planets wheel on fine silver wires. On the walls the constellations have been made of tiny phosphorescent seed pearls set out on vast tapestries of jet-black velvet. These were, of course, the constellations current at the time of the room’s decoration – several would be unrecognisable now owing to the Turtle’s movement through space. The planets are minor bodies of rock picked up and sometimes discarded by the system as it moves through space, and seem to have no other role in Discworld astronomy or astrology than to be considered a bloody nuisance.

In the entry Astrozoologists

Astrozoologists. Krullian scientists interested in studying the nature of the Great A’TUIN. Specifically, its sex.

In the entry A’Tuin, the Great

A’Tuin, the Great. The star turtle who carries the Discworld on its back. Ten-thousand-mile-long
member of the species Chelys galactica, and the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung-
Russell Diagram. Almost as big as the Disc it carries. Sex unknown.
Shell-frosted with frozen methane, pitted with meteor craters and scoured with asteroidal dust, its
eyes are like ancient seas, crusted with rheum. Its brain is the size of a continent, through which
thoughts move like glittering glaciers.
It is as large as worlds. As patient as a brick. Great A’Tuin is the only creature in the entire universe
that knows exactly where it is going.
Upon its back stand Berilia, Tubul, Great T’Phon and Jerakeen, the four giant elephants upon whose
shoulders the disc of the world rests. A tiny sun and moon spin around them on a complicated orbit to
induce seasons, although probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes necessary for an
elephant to cock its leg to allow the sun to go past.
After the events of The Light Fantastic, the Great A’Tuin was orbited by eight baby turtles, each with
four small world-elephant calves and tiny discworlds, covered in smoke and volcanoes. They have
subsequently begun their own cosmic journeys.
Wizards have tried to tune into Great A’Tuin’s mind. They trained up on tortoises and giant sea turtles
to get the hang of the Chelonian mind. But although they knew that the Great A’Tuin’s mind would be
big, they rather foolishly hadn’t realised it would be slow. After thirty years all they found out was
that the Great A’Tuin was looking forward to something.
People have asked: How does the Disc move on the shoulders of the elephants? What does the Turtle
eat? One may as well ask: What kind of smell has yellow got? It is how things are.

In the entry Brutha

(…) When the Great God OM was trapped in the form of a tortoise, Brutha – whose quiet and unquestioning belief meant he was the only person left in the entire country who could hear the god speak – carried him round in a wickerwork box slung over his shoulder. After many adventures, both prospered in their chosen spheres.

In the entry Caroc cards

Caroc cards. Distilled wisdom of the Ancients. Deck of cards used on the Discworld for fortune telling and for card games (see CRIPPLE MR ONION). Cards named in the Discworld canon include The Star, The Importance of Washing the Hands (Temperance), The Moon, The Dome of the Sky, The Pool of Night (the Moon), Death, the Eight of Octograms, the Four of Elephants, the Ace of Turtles.

In the entry Granny’s Cottage

On the bed itself is a patchwork quilt which looks like a flat tortoise. It was made by Gordo SMITH and was given to Miss Weatherwax by ESK’S mother one HOGSWATCHNIGHT.

In the entry Chimera

Chimera. A desert creature, with the legs of a mermaid, the hair of a tortoise, the teeth of a fowl, the wings of a snake, the breath of a furnace and the temperament of a rubber balloon in a hurricane. Clearly a magical remnant. It is not known whether chimera breed and, if so, with what.

In the entry Chelonauts

Chelonauts. Men who journey – or at least intend to journey – below the Rim to explore the mysteries of the Great A’TUIN. Their suits are of fine white leather, hung about with straps and brass nozzles and other unfamiliar and suspicious contrivances. The leggings end in high, thick-soled boots, and the arms are shoved into big supple gauntlets. Topping it all is a big copper helmet designed to fit on the heavy collars around the neck of the suits. The helmet has a crest of white feathers on top and a little glass window in front.

In the entry Discworld, the.

(…) And there, below the mines and sea-ooze and fake fossil bones put there (most people believe) by a
Creator with nothing better to do than upset archaeologists and give them silly ideas, is Great A’TUIN.
(…)
The Discworld should not exist. Flatness is not a natural state for a planet. Turtles should grow only
so big. (…)

In the entry Death, House of

(…) In one corner and dominating the room, however, is a large disc of the world. This magnificent feature is complete down to solid silver elephants standing on the back of a Great A’TUIN cast in bronze and more than a metre long. The rivers are picked out in veins of jade, the deserts are powdered diamonds and the most notable cities are picked out in precious stones.(…)

In the entry Gamblers’ Guild

Gamblers’ Guild. Motto: EXCRETVS EX FORTVNA. (Loosely speaking: ‘Really Out of Luck’.) Coat of
arms: A shield, gyronny. On its panels, turnwise from upper sinister: a sabre or on a field sable; an
octagon gules et argent on a field azure; a tortue vert on a field sable; an ‘A’ couronnée on a field
argent; a sceptre d’or on a field sable, a calice or on a field azure; a piece argent on a field gules; an
elephant gris on a field argent. (…)

In the entry Calendars

Calendars:
THE DISCWORLD YEAR:
The calendar on a planet which is flat and revolves on the back of four giants elephants is always
difficult to establish.
It can be derived, though, by starting with the fact that the spin year – defined by the time taken for a
point on the Rim to turn one full circle – is about 800 days long. The tiny sun orbits in a fairly flat
ellipse, being rather closer to the surface of the disc at the rim than at the Hub (thus making the Hub
rather cooler than the rim). This ellipse is stable and stationary with respect to the Turtle – the sun
passes between two of the elephants.

In the entry Rimbow

(…) The Rimbow hangs in the mists just beyond the edge of the world, appearing only at morning and evening when the light of the Disc’s little orbiting sun shines past the massive bulk of the Great A’TUIN and strikes the Disc’s magical field at exactly the right angle.

In the entry Krull

(…) The Krullians once had plans to lower a vessel over the Edge to ascertain the sex of the Great A’TUIN.

In the entry Morecombe

Morecombe. A vampire, although obviously housetrained. He is the solicitor of the RAMKIN family, and senior member of the firm Morecombe, Slant and Honeyplace. Scrawny around the neck, like a tortoise; very pale, with pearly, dead eyes.

In the entry Oats, Quite Reverend

(…) He also wore a holy turtle pendant and carried a finely printed graduation copy of the Book of Om, which he unfortunately mislaid during the events of Carpe Jugulum. (…)

In the entry Om

Om. The Great God Om. When he is first encountered, he is a small tortoise with one beady eye and
a badly chipped shell. (…)

In the entry Simony, Sergeant

Simony, Sergeant. Sergeant in the Divine Legion in OMNIA and a follower of the Turtle Movement.(…)

In the entry Potent Voyager

Potent Voyager. Vessel constructed by DACTYLOS to take two chelonauts out over the Rim to determine the sex of the Great A’TUIN. A huge bronze space ship, without any motive power other than the ability to drop.

In the entry Zodiac

It would be more correct to say that there are always sixty-four signs in the Discworld zodiac but also that these are subject to change without notice. Stars immediately ahead of the Turtle’s line of flight change their position only very gradually, as do the ones aft. The ones at right angles, however, may easily alter their relative positions in the lifetime of the average person, so there is a constant need for an updating of the Zodiac. This is done for the STO PLAINS by Unseen University, but communications with distant continents (who in any case have their own interpretations of the apparent shapes in the sky) are so slow that by the time any constellation is known Discwide it has already gone past.

In the entry Turtle, the Great

Turtle, the Great. (See A’TUIN, GREAT.)

In the entry Turtle Movement

Turtle Movement. A secret society in OMNIA which believes that the Disc is flat and is carried
through space on the backs of four elephants and a giant turtle. Their secret recognition saying is ‘The
Turtle Moves’. Their secret sign is a left-hand fist with the right hand, palm extended, brought down
on it. Most of the senior officials of the Omnian church are members of the ‘movement’, but since they
all wear hoods and are sworn to absolute secrecy each thinks he is the only one.

In the header of the final part of the book:

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN: EVEN MORE DISCWORLD STUFF!

In the interview:

I know you get asked this all the time, but we still have to ask it here . . . In your own words, where did Discworld come from?
I used to say that the basic myth that the world is flat and goes through space on the back of a turtle is found on all continents – some school kids recently sent me a version of it I hadn’t run across before. And once you get into Indo-European mythology you get the elephants, too. But I’ve got asked so many times, and no one listens anyway, so now I just say I made it up.

In the rules for “Cripple Mr Onion”:

Great A’Tuin’s Rule : Declaring the World card allows a player to reduce the value of one of the player’s cards by eight points and to increase the value of a different card by eight points. The two affected cards must still have value between one and eleven inclusive. A two that is shifted up to value ten may be considered a picture card; a three shifted up to eleven as an ace of value eleven.

Author: XYuriTT

Dead Man’s Folly

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Title: Dead Man’s Folly
Author(s): Agatha Christie
Release year: 1956
Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company

Why in Database: Turtles play a symbolic role in this detective story. One of the characters is wearing a shirt with printed turtles, so he is “defined” in the novel as a man wearing a turtle shirt. He is mentioned in seven fragments.

The first mention about this person is when another protagonist whining about how young people dress “today”:

They come out at you from everywhere wearing the most incredible shirts–boy this morning had one all covered with crawling turtles and things.

All others fragments are similar, the character either shows up in person or is mentioned, always described through the perspective of his T-shirt:

Poirot moved towards the house and was cai-nnoned into by a young man who was stepping backwards to take a better aim at a coconut. The young man scowled and Poirot apologised, mechanically, his ewe held fascinated by the varied pattern c,f the young man’s shirt. He recognised it as the „turtle„ shirt: of Sir George’s description. Every kind of turtle, tortcoise and sea monster appeared to be writhing and cirawling over it.

Poirot considered (hat latter point. Then he heard footsteps outside and looked up sharply. A figure came round to the front of the Folly and stopped, startled, at the sight of Poirot. Poirot looked with a considering eye on the slim, fair young man wearing a shirt on which a variety of tortoise and turtle was depicted. The shirt was unmistakable.

He strolled down to the bend of the path and looked at it where it wound away into the trees. There was no sign of the young man in the turtle shirt now.

I am not often wrong,„ he explained, „and it exasperates me. It was not you I expected to see.„
„Whom did you expect to see? „ asked Alee Legge.
Poirot replied promptly.
„A young man–a boy almost–in one of these gailypatterned shirts with turtles on it.„
He was pleased at the effect of his words. Alee Legge took a step forward.

He also put down „Boy in turtle shirt„ with a query mark after it. Then he smiled, shook his head, took a pin from the lapel of his jacket, shut his eyes and stabbed with it. It was as good a way as any other, he thought.
He was justifiably annoyed when the pin proved to have transfixed the last entry.
„I am an imbecile,„ said Hercule Poirot. What has a boy in a turtle shirt to do with this?

You tried to withdraw and you were faced with a threat. You were given a rendezvous with someone.
I doubt if I shall ever know that young man’s name. He will be for me always the young man in the turtle shirt„

Author: XYuriTT

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

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Title: Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
Author(s): Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Release year: 1990
Publisher: Workman Publishing

Why in Database: An unusual case (though not the only one in TD) when a turtle element appears in a book… thanks to the creativity of the polish translator(s) and not the author(s). In the Polish edition, one of the footnotes mentions turtles:

Występowała tam również leciwa niewiasta jako synogarlica, a pościgi samochodów przypominały końcówkę maratonu zaspanych żółwi.

When in english, we dont have any turtles in this fragment! (“maratonu zaspanych żółwi” means “marathon of sleepy turtles”, translators decided to use this phrase as synonym of “done very slowly”)

With a little old lady as the sleuth, and no car chases unless they’re done very slowly.

Author: XYuriTT