Tierra Encantada Charter School discussion

What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?

Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?"

The moral of the fable of the tortoise is that you shouldn't trick people who have an advantage over you unless it gives you an advantage, or else you will have your "... shell broke into pieces." which means that you will have your defense broken. This reflects that the culture believes that you should only take on that which you have an advantage over or believe that you can gain the advantage that will claim you victory. The incident involving the priestess of Agbala says that the culture is hard and relies highly on image, even when no one is around, but if it is necessary they will shed their immage and help or do what needs to be helped or done. This is shown when Okonkwo doesn't immediately go out to help Ekwifi and Enzima when Enzima is taken by the priestess of Agbala. Instead he waits for what he feels is a "manly amount of time," then goes out to help. When he finds no one is out where he expects them to be, he goes back to his hut and waits longer. He goes out and comes back a few more times, and on the last time Ekwifi is there, and they both wait for Enzima to scream or for Enzima and the priestess of Agbala to come out of the cave.

Zane wrote: "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?"

The ..."

I agree with Zane. The moral of the story is that you shouldn't cheat people, like the turtle cheated the birds to get food. When you trick people you can get in trouble or they'll get mad and get revenge, like the parrot did as he tricked the turtle into falling form the sky onto hard things. The turtle got his shell broken into a many pieces and had to get it repaired by a medicine man. This story shows that you shouldn't be selfish when people have chosen to trust you. I don't really agree that the incident involving Aglaba shows that the culture "relies highly on image". I dont get how it relates to the incident other than when Okonkwo was thinking on preserving his manly image by waiting awhile before going after Ekwefi and the Cheilo. I think the incident of Aglaba shows that they respect and fear Aglaba very much, but they value their children too, enough to try to protect them from Aglaba.

I agree with Zane and Marianne . The moral of the story is that you shouldn't trick anyone. You shouldn't do this because if you trick someone that person would want a revenge. If they get revenge then it may be good but it can also be bad. The turtle wanted revenge because they broke his shell. He tricked birds to get food and they broke his shell.

I think Zane and Marianne both answer the question very well. The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people. As the tortoise learned the hard way when he tricked the birds who finally agreed to let him go to their feast and ended up with a broken shell. This fable reflects the values of honesty and dignity. I think the incident with the priestess of Agbala reflects the values of family, togetherness, strong bonds and love in their culture. This is because Ekwwefi and Okonkwo went after Ezinma following the priestess of Agbala almost into the mouth of the sacred cave, even though they could have gotten in much trouble they risked it for the love of their daughter.

Zane wrote: "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?"

The ..."

Vanessa wrote: "I think Zane and Marianne both answer the question very well. The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people. As the tortoise learned the ..."

I can agree with both of you, but I do have something to add. First I agree that the moral of the story is that you should not trick, and that you should be more excepting to theses " second chances". To me this tale tells about karma and how it can come back and bite you in the butt. Because for the most part that's what happens. The tortoise tricked the birds,and so the birds ended up breaking his shell. That's karma for you. Now about the next question. There are two situations, the killing of Ikemefuna and the Ezinma incident. They both show that the Ibo follow and don't question there gods,and oricales . I know that if i where a parent i would fight for my children instead of letting bad things happen to them.

Marianne wrote: "Zane wrote: "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the cu..."

Isaiah wrote: "Zane wrote: "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the cu..."

I agree with both Marianne and Isaiah. The moral of the story is that you need to be honest when someone gives you a second chance. If you do not you will end up worse off than before or end up as tortoise did, whose "shell broke into pieces", page 99. The part about Agbala shows, as Marianne points out, that while the Ibo people honor and fear thier gods and the priests\priestess who serve those gods, they love their children enough that they will try to protect those children against almost anything. They probably wouldn't go against a direct decree of the gods, but as long as they didn't directly disobey a god they would do a lot to protect their children.

Sarai wrote: "I agree with Zane and Marianne . The moral of the story is that you shouldn't trick anyone. You shouldn't do this because if you trick someone that person would want a revenge. If they get revenge..."

I agree with Marianne. The moral of the story is to not cheat others because it never turns out well. Tortoise cheated the birds out of a good meal during a famish and "his shell broke into pieces"( page 99) because the birds left in the sky palace. Tortoise was greedy and now has a bumpy shell because of it. The incident with Agbala shows that while the community in general highly respects its religion, individuals like Okonkwo and Efweki are able to disobey a god out of worry for their children. Efweki followed the oracle when Ezinma was taken and Okonkwo repeatedly checked on the cave waiting for the oracle, Efweki, and Ezinma to return.

Marianne wrote: "Zane wrote: "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the cu..."
i agree with Marianne about how the moral of the story is that cheating is bad and if you do it you will get the short end of the stick, like how the Tortoise got his shel broken and had to to get it put back to gather pg.99 . I also agree with her about how the incident shows that they love there children enough to risk Agbalas wrath pg. 101-108.

Zane wrote "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the culture?"

Vanessa wrote "The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people. As the tortoise learned the hard way when he tricked the birds who finally agreed to let him go to their feast and ended up with a broken shell. This fable reflects the values of honesty and dignity."

I think that Zane and Vanessa sum up the fable of the tortoise. It means to teach people to not be greedy, to appreciate second chances, to be an honest person, to be grateful for what you have, and to not trick people even if they had or have been mean to you. The fable involves the priests agbala because it reflects dignity, love for ones family, and pure guts. I say this because of when Okonkwo had followed Ekwefi who was following agbala, she followed her almost all the way into the mouth of the sacred cave. She did this because of her love for her daughter Ezinma. It says on pg 99 "The priestess screamed. "Beware, okonkwo!" she warned. "Beware of exchanging words with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!" Ekwefi loves Ezinma so much that she does not want her to die so she carries her on her back all the way to the mountain, that was because agbala wanted to see Ezinma.

Molly wrote: "Zane wrote "Tierra wrote: "What is the moral of the fable of the tortoise? What values does it reflect? What does the incident involving the priestess of Agbala reflect about the values of the cult..."

I agree with all of them. That if you are a snob and expect other people to do thing for you or help you out, than you will have bad karma. That is pretty much what happened to the tortoise. He was being a jerk to the birds and would not give them any food. The tortoise demanded the birds to go and tell his wife to put all of the soft things that they had in the house outside so that the birds could fly him to his house and drop him off. But, the birds wanted revenge so they told the wife to put all of the hard things that they had in the house outside. So, when the tortoise came by, the birds let go of the tortoise, he fell and broke his shell on the hard things that his wife had put outside. That was his bad his bad karma for doing what he did to the birds. Karma is a weird thing, if you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. If you do something good, something good, will happen to you. So, if you think that your life sucks when all you do is bad things. Well do something good for a change, and maybe something good will happen to you. This story relates how their village is falling apart like, the broken tortoise shell. The moral is that should not be a jerk people and expect others to take it lightly.

Vanessa wrote: "I think Zane and Marianne both answer the question very well. The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people. As the tortoise learned the ..."

I really like Vanessa's answer. I like her second sentence, which states: "The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people." Not to sound evil, but I did like the part where Tortoise says his name is "all of you". I think on Tortoise's part, this statement was extremely clever. I also liked her answer about Okonkwo and Ekwefi willing to defy Agbala for the sake of their daughter. I also just liked this part because it shows a more human side of Okonkwo.

the moral of this story is to not trick people especially one's who have done something good for you because they can "take back the feathers" that they have given you and you will end up with a "broken shell"

Kai wrote: "Vanessa wrote: "I think Zane and Marianne both answer the question very well. The moral of the story is to appreciate second chances, to be honest, be grateful and not to trick people. As the torto..."

I both agree with Kai and vamessa, because the story isn't meant to confuse,in fact I think it's kind of to inform because they bring out how richuals change and that even if someone wants to be original they eventually change something .