KKG_Step 17

Read the story carefully and answer the questions given below:

The Gnome and the Little Tortoise

Thunderbolt, the gnome, was without a doubt the best messenger in the land. He could carry messages, letters or packages from one place to another so quickly that he earned many rewards. But still he was not content, because he had no son who would inherit his position. One day, another gnome gave him a box to give to a witch. But as soon as Thunderbolt set off, he heard a voice from the box, begging him to open the lid. He thought that there might be a ghost inside the box. But in it was a tiny prince, who had been made small by an evil spell.

Thunderbolt would have really liked to help the prince, but he did not know the magic words which would open the box, so he had no choice but to deliver the box to the witch. In return for his service, the witch gave him a pigeon's egg, from which a child would be born.

Thunderbolt was delighted, and persuaded a pigeon to sit on the egg. He offered the pigeon some bread crumbs. Then he waited, but when the egg finally hatched, out came, not a child as promised, but a tortoise. Nevertheless, Thunderbolt decided to keep the little creature, and he loved it like a son. Contrary to appearance, little Tortoise was very fast, so much so that he could travel long distances, in order to pass on a message, and be back in a few minutes. People would come from all over the world to marvel at him.

Then, one day, along came a richly dressed man who, to the amazement of Thunderbolt, suddenly struck little Tortoise with a hammer blow so hard that it broke the whole shell. And out came a handsome young gnome. Then it was revealed that the rich man was none other than the tiny prince in the box. He had been released from the evil spell, and had come back to reward Thunderbolt by granting him his dearest wish, for a son. SO everyone lived happily ever after.