The Tortoise


Once there was a very old god who had been sitting on a 
rock by the sea for as long as she could remember,
shaking her head from side to side,
moaning in time to the waves. 

One night an ancient tortoise crawled out of the water 
and dragged itself to the rock, 
its mottled shell glistening in the moonlight.

Why do you shake your head and moan so?  asked the tortoise. 

I want to die,  said the ancient god, but Death does not come.

If he does not come to you, you must go to him.

Where  does Death live? 

Climb on my back  and I will show you.

With the ancient god clinging to its shell,
 the tortoise lumbered into the sea and swam for seven nights
 beyond the horizon.   

On the seventh night it said, Here is where Death lives. 
And it slid beneath the waves, 
leaving the ancient god to drown.

And that is how Death comes in his own time,
 and why waiting for him is a waste of ours.

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