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Once there was a little girl named Katerinya who roamed the woods every day. She delighted in the powerful eagle flying overhead, watched with bated breath as seedlings popped out of the soil, and stroked with one finger the soft petals of the wildflowers. Her hair was as dark as the bald eagle’s wing feathers, her skin as soft as her favorite petals, and her life as newly sprung as the seedlings she guarded from hungry rabbits. Happily, she loved the world and it’s creator loved her too.
But one day she ventured into the woods and found something awful. Down by the riverbank, she found a crane pecking at something in the water “Shoo,” Katerinya told the bird. “Go find breakfast somewhere else.” The bird flew from her loud cries, and she ventured down into the water lilies. There she found a family in much need. Hiding behind their mother, over a dozen baby turtles tried not to fall off their log. When Katerinya got closer, she gasped in horror. None of the baby turtles had a shell! That was why the crane had so eagerly pecked at his easy meal.
Of course, the girl knew she must help at once.
She scooped the mother turtle and all the tiny babies into her lifted skirt and carried them home to Mother.
When you are not much older than a seedling, your mother knows everything and can fix anything. Just so was Katerinya’s mother. When the little girl emptied her skirts on their hearth, Mother took one look at the tiny babies with no shells and put a hand to her chin. “Well, we must make them shells, of course.” She asked her daughter where the turtles had come from. “You must go back there and gather all the lily pads you can hold. Bring them back with a length of stem attached. Then we shall make their shells.”
So the little girl hiked up her skirt, hightailed it back to the bank and began picking the lily pads.
Back in the house, Mother laid out some lettuce for their wild guests and got out her carded linen and spinning wheel. “I must make everything ready,” she told her fellow mother. “Do not worry, I shall start making their shells as soon as my daughter is back.”
But she could not start right away, because when Katerinya got back, she was covered from head to toe in thick river muck. But instead of scolding Mother said, “You certainly worked hard. Go wash up and have a treat. Then come back and help me make the shells.”
Quickly she washed up outside by the water pump,grabbed an apple from the bowl in the kitchen, and raced back to the hearth. Mother handed her each lily pad and told her to take the stem off. While Katerinya gently twisted off each stem and ate her apple, Mother spun them into her linen until they had a strong, green yarn. “Katerinya,” Mother said very seriously, “can you hold each turtle still? Can you keep each one calm?”
“Of course, Mother,” she answered, for she was a good mannered girl. Then she held each tiny turtle still while her mother sewed a lily pad shell onto its back with her strong green yarn and a wooden needle made from the toughest stem.
When all the turtles had shells, Mother and Katerinya prayed over the little family. “God, please protect them from cranes and floods and fast rivers. Keep their shells from tearing. And give them lots of fish and plants to eat.” And the creator of all things heard their pleas, and hardened all the makeshift shells into proper shells. And the family of two was very happy.