All the Way Down
At the swimming pool, Wistar and I sometimes poke around in the filters to see what animal carnage might be swirling around. Usually it’s frogs, Japanese beetles, dragonflies, grasshoppers or some combination. This is especially true during summer storms, like this week’s heavy rainfall which surely killed hundreds of animals unlucky enough to be trapped in small spaces.
But yesterday we found something else - a turtle, exhausted and barely able to stay afloat any longer, supporting a frog on its back while a spider clung to the frog’s head to avoid drowning.
We guessed it had been 3 days since the storms hit, when the filters were last emptied. Somehow the three had survived in 8″ of water, one of top of the other like ice cream scoops. Even after their rescue, they were reluctant to part ways. Finally, the spider disappeared into the grass and the frog hopped in the other direction.
For some reason this weird little event stuck with me. I thought about turtles in mythology. The Hindu god Vishnu had taken the avatar form of a turtle (”Kurma”) and held mountains on his back. Another Iroquois creation myth depicts the North American continent as supported by the strength and steadfastness of a turtle.
These are great stories. They make agnosticism that much harder, not feeling comfortable with supernatural explanations or resisting speculation about what greater force might be out there, carrying us all on its back.
I’m more likely to be contrary and ask, “if the turtle holds up the world, who holds up the turtle?”, as the anecdote goes:
A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”
It was Wistar’s father who held up this particular turtle yesterday so that we could snap some pictures. The turtle was surprisingly at ease in someone else’s hands. He may have been shocked or exhausted or just relieved to be found. On another day, all alone, he would not have been so lucky.
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I think this may be the greatest blog post I’ve read in months. A event, an interesting and relevant picture, and a touch of philosophy thrown in. Glad you shared it.
Amazing, Darren. Thanks for this.
Also: that’s probably the most diggable image I’ve ever seen outside of Digg.
I’m sorry, the goodness of your post was lost in how grossed out I am by that big ass spider. *cringe* LOL!
Wow, what a great photo!
As for the meaning of it, it is my own opinion that many native religions took their original inspiration from Nature. It was then the major religions that took their inspiration from native traditions. I personally feel there is great depth of meaning in nature, and not just that which we impose upon it. As Lynn Margulis discovered, cooperation plays a vital role in evolution. In fact, all plants are the result of the symbiotic fusion of two different species from two different kingdoms of life. It is the lesson of cooperation between species that I think Humanity could really stand to learn something from.
THAT IS GREAT MAN!
I emailed this story to about 20 of my friends.
@david, matt, erika, rob lawrence: I don’t usually post stuff like this so I’m glad you enjoyed it.
@Lonnie: I agree about wishing for more rotuine cooperation among humans. Too often it’s fleeting and only happens during tragedy.
This is beautiful in some ways I cannot comprehend. Wonderful.
Wow! And to think, right about now Canadian Geese are carrying hummingbirds across the Gulf of Mexico on their backs. Looking for the eye of the hurricane. At least that’s what I was told. I’m starting to believe it after seeing this pic.
This is the first time I’ve been to your blog and I just want to say that this is an amazing photo and story. Glad you could save them after they displayed such a strong will to survive.
This is a different kind of amazing! Brought a smile to my face :)
That is amazing- truth can be stranger than fiction!
Thank you for a wonderful photo and a fantastic story. I look at this and my heart warms. Someone, maybe you, ought to write it as the ending of a children’s story or fable. I think this is where fables come from. Real things that happen and make so much sense they stick in your mind. Thank you for posting this.
It’s one of the coolest things I’ve read in a long time. It’ll stick with me as it will with many readers. It’ll come back up unrecognizably in something I do in fiction someday, but it’s gone down to where the stories come from and will leave its ripples. It was just what I needed to see to remind myself that this world is that beautiful sometimes and that rich.
My co-worker left this for me today on the computer. I am filled with gratitude. SO brilliant and smart and lovely.
Cooperation and belief in each other can create survival and life.
No religion, no politics . . . just appreciation.
wow, I’m ashamed it took me this long to catch this story. still totally awesome.
Your story is nice, the picture adorable. But why it should prove agnosticism is wrong remains hidden to me. Isn’t this one great example for evolution and not for creation?
I’m not saying any of this proves agnosticism wrong (I don’t think that’s even possible). I’m saying the myths themselves and the human need to believe in higher powers make agnosticism harder because at the end of the day, everyone wants to feel like someone is looking out for them. I’ve got no specific religious beliefs, so small events like this are just one more thing to ponder.
AWESOME BLOG.
btw, did you end up keeping the turtle??
“These are great stories. They make agnosticism that much harder, not feeling comfortable with supernatural explanations or resisting speculation about what greater force might be out there, carrying us all on its back.”
Good story indeed, but doesn’t make explaining it hard :P If I were drowning and there was a turtle nearby I could stand on, I wouldn’t hesitate at all. ^^
(I’m sure the spider and frog were glad they didn’t hesitate, too)
I admit that I only stumbled upon this story whilst relaxing before going off to work, and I must say, I’m touched by it. This story offers me hope and solace, for some reason. A turtle saves a spider and a frog from drowning? This is so Romantic, even Wordsworth wouldn’t have the words for it.
Darren, this is so beautiful. it touched my heart. thank you for sharing it.
I believe that might actually be a tortoise. However, that does not change the pure awesomeness of that picture.
Photoshopped.
Great photo!!! I wanted to share a piece of art I made a bit back based on the “turtles all the way down” story ;) Hope you like it!
Turtles All The Way Down by Kenneth Rougeau
I loved this picture so much I got it tattooed on my back last week. It was such a heartwarming story, I get chills when I tell people about it. What a unique and unusual situation of survival.
Maybe the turtle had no idea there was a frog on his back, maybe the frog was so focused on staying alive he didn’t realize the spider on his head or maybe they had some sort of cognizance of the situation and realized they had to help each other to stay alive.
Whatever the case, three seaparate and very different animals came together and survived a storm, most likely, they would not have survived if they were on their own.
This is the real life “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” Someone should option the script… Hollywood would eat this up!!