Once upon a time, there lived two brothers in a village. The older brother was evil and ill-tempered, while the younger brother was an honest and good-hearted man. When their father died, the greedy older brother got the entire inheritance and gave his brother nothing at all. Worse yet, he kicked his younger brother out of the house with his own mother and younger sisters. He had his own family to feed, and he didn’t have any intention to help his needy mother and younger siblings. The poor younger brother now had to support his widowed mother and fatherless sisters. Although he worked very hard, his family suffered from hunger and poverty.

One day, while cutting a tree in the mountains to collect some firewood, the man sighed for his hopeless life. He murmured to himself, “Oh, we’re going to run out of food today. How can I feed my family tomorrow?” To his surprise, a voice came out from the wood, repeating exactly what he had said. “Oh, we’re going to run out of food today. How can I feed my family tomorrow?” The man was stunned and looked around. He found a turtle on a rock. But he thought it was completely nonsense for the animal to talk. He just guessed he had heard wrong and kept working. While gathering chestnuts and acorns, he muttered to himself again. “I can give these to the sisters.” Again, the same voice said. “I can give these to the sisters.” Now, the man stared at the turtle and talked directly to the animal. “What did you say?” To his amazement, the turtle opened its lips and said, “What did you say?” The man held up the strange animal, which remained still as if obeying him. He took the turtle home and fed it.

The next day, the man took the turtle to the marketplace crowded with people. There, he called out, “Hey, why don’t you see this talking turtle? A talking turtle!” In a moment, many curious people gathered to watch the mysterious turtle. What the man said proved to be correct. The animal repeated exactly what people said, whatever it was. Amused by the marvelous creature, people gave the man some money as the viewing fee. With the money, he bought some food and clothes for his family. Before long, he was able to earn a lot of money, all thanks to the unusual turtle, which now became the talk of the town.

Meanwhile, the older brother also heard about the talking turtle. The greedy man became immensely jealous of his younger brother’s good fortune. He went to his brother’s house and stole the turtle. He then rushed to the marketplace and called people together, shouting loudly. “A talking turtle! A talking turtle!” People began to say something to the turtle, but strangely enough, it never said anything in return. The turtle remained absolutely motionless as though it was dead. The crowd was disappointed and even angry. Some of them made fun of the man. “This turtle is mute, isn’t it? Get a talking turtle next time.” The older brother was upset and humiliated. He flung the turtle to the ground in anger, killing the poor creature. After hearing the sad news, the younger brother shed tears and buried the dead turtle in his yard.

After a while, a young tree sprouted from the place where the turtle was buried. It grew fast to be a big tree and began to bear clusters of plump fruits. The younger brother picked the fruits and opened them. Miraculously, every fruit had gold and treasures. The man became rich in an instant.

The rumor of the wealthy man reached the ears of the greedy older brother, who was green with envy. He ran toward his younger brother’s house and cut a branch of the magic tree there before planting it in his own yard. As he wished, the branch grew to be a tree to bear a lot of fruits. They looked even larger and riper than those on his younger brother’s tree. He was pleased. He began to shake the tree so the fruits would fall from it. But alas! Upon shaking the tree, all he saw were stones and dirty water bursting from the fruits. The disaster destroyed the whole house and eventually left the greedy man penniless. He had no choice but to go to his younger brother to beg for help. The tenderhearted younger brother was willing to accept his brother’s entire family. The older brother deeply regretted what he had done. From then on, the two brothers lived in harmony, getting along well with each other.