"If you want to marry my daughter," proclaimed the King, "bring me this wicker basket full of water from the stream."
Many men and many animals tried, but the water always escaped through the holes in the basket.
Tortoise took the basket to the stream and dipped it into the water. Then he sent a message to the King: "Let the King give me a carrying-strap made of smoke so I can bring him the basket."
When the King heard Tortoise's message, he laughed. "Tortoise is even wiser than I am!" he said, and so Tortoise married the King's daughter.
[a Bulu story from Cameroon]
Inspired by: "Turtle Surpasses Man in Ingenuity" in Bulu Folk-Tales (in Journal of American Folklore) by George Schwab, 1914. The Bulu are a people who live in Cameroon.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The original story was about a man named Zomeyomebe'e and his daughter; I changed that to be the king and his daughter since this type of fairy tale is often told about winning a princess.
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