一隻烏龜在海邊懶洋洋地曬太陽，並一直向海鳥抱怨自己命運的悲慘，因為沒有誰能教她飛翔。這時，有一隻老鷹在附近的天空盤旋，聽到了烏龜的傾訴之後，就答應幫助她實現願望，但是要求一定的回報。烏龜非常愉快地答應了，並允諾以紅海中的一切財富作為報酬。於是老鷹用雙爪把烏龜帶到了空中，突然把她扔下，讓她自己飛翔。結果，可憐的烏龜掉在石頭上，落得粉身碎骨的下場。在臨死之前，她後悔不已：我不應該存有奢望，我的生命中本不該有翅膀和雲朵，我怎麼可能離開地麵呢？
如果一個人實現了所有的願望，那麼被毀滅的時刻也快來臨了。
A Tortoise，lazily basking in the sun，plaihe sea-birds of her hard fate，that each her to .y. An Eagle，h near，heard her lamentation a reward she would give him if he would take her aloft ahe air. “I will give you，” she said，“all the riches of the Red Sea.”“I will teach you to .y then，” said the Eagle；and taking her up in his talons he carried her almost to the clouds sudde her go，and she fell on a lofty mountain，dashio pieces. The Tortoise ex the momeh，“I have deserved my prese had I to do with wings and clouds，who with difficulty move about oh?”
If men had all they wished，they would be often ruined.