Chapter 01Searching and searching
One morning Tortoise was walking through the veld, gazing into the distance and squinting at the grass. He was searching and searching.
Are you looking for something? asked Snail, gliding past. Yes, said Tortoise. I'm looking for my house. Have you seen it?
Chapter 02Climb aboard
No, I haven't, said Snail - but I'll help you look! She climbed onto Tortoise's shell, and they walked on together. They looked and looked, but there was no sign of a house.
Then Sparrow swooped down, and Ladybird waved from her dandelion, and Mouse hurried over with a half-finished daisy chain. Each one asked, each one heard the answer, and each one said the same thing: I'll help you look!
One by one they climbed aboard. Tortoise walked on with Snail and Sparrow and Ladybird and Mouse riding on his back - a whole expedition, moving at tortoise speed.
Chapter 03Too fast, too slow
Sparrow flapped his wings and whizzed ahead. You're going too fast! called Tortoise. So Sparrow folded his wings and hopped on too, and they settled into the slowest parade the veld had ever seen.
They checked behind rocks and under bushes. They asked everyone they passed. No house anywhere - only grass, sky, and five good friends getting dustier by the step.
Then a breeze started to blow, tugging at Mouse's daisy chain and ruffling Sparrow's feathers.
Chapter 04The storm
The breeze became a wind. The wind became a roar. The sky turned dark, thunder grumbled in the hills, lightning flashed far away - drip, drip came the rain.
Oh, where is my house? sighed Tortoise. Oh, where is Tortoise's house? echoed Snail and Sparrow and Ladybird and Mouse, holding on tight.
The wind whirled and whipped and blew all four friends clean off Tortoise's back, tumbling into the wet grass like scattered marbles.
Chapter 05The surprise inside
Eek! squeaked Tortoise with a fright - and shrank back into his shell. It was warm in there. It was dry in there. It was cosy in there.
Tortoise blinked. Then he laughed out loud. Oh! Here is my house! I have been carrying it the whole time - on every step of the journey!
He poked his head out into the rain, grinning. Friends! Come and see! One by one, Snail and Sparrow and Ladybird and Mouse squeezed under the great dome of the shell, out of the storm.
Chapter 06Home at last
Oh! Here is Tortoise's house! they cheered, shaking rain off wings and whiskers. The thunder rumbled itself tired, the rain softened, and five friends waited it out together in the warmest room on the veld.
Tortoise had searched all day for his house without knowing it was on his back. And his friends had searched beside him without once giving up.
That is how Tortoise found his home - by walking far, by welcoming everyone aboard, and by discovering at the stormy end that the best houses are the ones with room for friends.
