The Turtle Under the Bush
a Tiny Kingdom story about holding on, and learning to let go
version 12th August 26
In the Tiny Kingdom, everyone was busy preparing for Christmas. For days there had been planning, rearranging and thinking ahead. Lists lay on tables, boxes stood open in the palace, and there was always something that still needed to be done or remembered.
Princess Guusje and Prince Dingus had gone into the garden for a while, leaving the bustle of the palace behind them, when Guusje suddenly stopped.
Under a bush, close to the ground, sat a turtle. Her body was drawn tightly into her shell, her head hidden so far inside that it seemed as though she had pulled herself inward to keep the whole world out.
Guusje lowered herself beside her and watched.
There was something in the way the turtle held herself that made the young princess stay very still.
She looked as though she had been bracing herself for a long time, holding everything as tightly as she possibly could.
Prince Dingus sat down beside Guusje and studied the turtle for a moment.
“You are trying very hard to keep everything together so that nothing can go wrong,” he said gently.
At first, the turtle did not move. Her shell remained tightly closed and her little body stayed hidden inside it.
Then, after a while, something changed.
It was barely visible at first, just the smallest shift beneath the shell, followed by a long, slow breath.
Her head did not appear all at once. First there was only the tip of her nose, then a little more, until finally two cautious eyes looked out at Guusje and Dingus.
Neither of them moved closer.
They simply stayed with her.
After another moment, one small foot appeared from beneath the shell and rested on the earth.
Guusje smiled.
Behind them, the palace was still full of Christmas preparations. There were still lists to finish, boxes to unpack and things that someone would inevitably remember at the very last moment.
Yet here, beneath the bush, none of that seemed to matter very much.
The turtle remained where she was, with her head now outside her shell and one small foot on the ground, while Guusje and Dingus sat quietly beside her.
And from the other kingdom, Prince Donder watched them.
He knew that feeling well: the moment when something that has been held too tightly finally begins to loosen, just enough for the world to come back in.