A Tale of Ten Turtles Trivia Quiz

Answer: Aesop

"The Tortoise and the Hare" tells of a race between a Hare and a Tortoise in which the Hare, who can move much more quickly than the Tortoise, makes fun of his opponent, then races ahead until he is near the finish, when he decides to take a nap. While he is sleeping, the Tortoise plods on ahead and wins the race. Sometimes the moral is suggested to be that we should be aware of being overconfident like the Hare; other times it is said to be along the lines of "Slow and steady wins the race". In 1941, Warner Brothers produced a cartoon called "Tortoise Beats Hare" in which Cecil Turtle uses a number of his relatives to confuse Bugs Bunny in their match race, which is another version of the story that is sometimes seen.

Answer: Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), created a number of fantastic creatures in his 1865 book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". One of them is the Mock Turtle, which the Queen tells Alice is the basis for mock turtle soup, a 17th century dish that used organ meats to reproduce the texture and flavour of green turtle soup on a more economical scale.

The original illustrations by John Tenniel show the Mock Turtle with a calf's head, and various other non-turtle body parts cobbled together to form a turtle-like creature.

Answer: Joel Chandler Harris

Joel Chandler Harris created the character of Uncle Remus to be the narrator of a collection of African-American folk tales in the book "Uncle Remus". Br'er Fox and Br'er Rabbit are far more familiar to most than Br'er Tarrypin, as they star in many of the tales. Bre'er Tarrypin (also called Mr Terrapin) appears in a number of stories as one of Br'er Rabbit's confederates in playing tricks.

Answer: Beatrix Potter

Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise appears in Beatrix Potter's 1906 book "The Tale of Mr Jeremy Fisher". Jeremy is a frog who, after a day's unsuccessful fishing (in which he is nearly eaten by a trout), welcomes his friends Sir Isaac Newton (a newt) and Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise to dinner. Since he serves roasted grasshopper with ladybird sauce, they are both glad that they brought their own food along with them!

Answer: Hugh Lofting

Mudface appears in several of Hugh Lofting's books about the adventures of Dr Dolittle, and is the central character in "Dr Dolittle and the Secret Lake", published posthumously in 1948. Most of that book consists of Mudface telling the story of his experiences around the time of the Deluge, including the time he spent aboard Noah's Ark - as the Dr says, Mudface was one of his oldest friends.

This book, written during the dark days of World War II, has a greater emphasis on man's inhumanity to man, and significantly less whimsical comedy, than most of the Dr Dolittle books - this is not one for the younger members of the family.

Answer: Dr Seuss

Yertle's rhyming name is typically Seussian, isn't it? Theodor Geisel's books (written with the pen name Dr Seuss) have introduced generations of children to the delights of word play, often with suitably nonsensical illustrations and/or storylines. Yertle was king of the pond until he overreached himself, exploiting the other turtles in an attempt to make his throne ever higher by having them hold it up.

When Mack, one of the turtles at the bottom, burped it all came tumbling down.

Answer: Michael Ende

Morla, also known as The Ancient One, is responsible for sending Atreyu off to seek Uyulala, an invisible oracle, in his quest to find a cure for the dying Empress of Fantastica, in "The Neverending Story". She is designated the oldest living creature in Fantastica (since the Empress and the Old Man of Wandering Mountain are both ageless), and is so large that she is initially mistaken for a mountain.

Answer: Terry Pratchett

If you have read any of Terry Pratchett's satirical-fantasy books set on the Discworld, you will have heard of the Great A'Tuin, the Giant Star Turtle (Chelys galactica) who travels through space with four giant elephants standing on his (probably, although the scientists of Discworld are uncertain of the gender) back as they support the Discworld on their backs. Nobody is quite sure why the Great A'Tuin is swimming through space, or what (if any) might be the purpose and destination of the voyage; a number of conflicting cosmologies have developed based on alternative theories.

Answer: Paulette Bourgeois

Franklin the Turtle is the star of over 50 children's books by Canadian author Paulette Bourgeois (and later in collaboration with Sharon Jennings), all illustrated by Brenda Clarke. The first of them, "Franklin in the Dark', was published in 1986. She has said that she got the idea for this book from an episode of the television show "M*A*S*H", in which Hawkeye describes his claustrophobia, and says, "If I were a turtle I would be afraid of my own shell."

Answer: Roald Dahl

"Esio Trot" is not one of Roald Dahl's best-known books, but it does feature a tortoise, which is more than can be said for "Witches" or "James and the Giant Peach". Mr Hoppy provides his friend Mrs Silver with a spell to make her small pet tortoise, Alfie, grow larger.

It starts with the words "Esio trot", which just happens to be tortoise spelled backwards. The entire spell is an exhortation to grow bigger, written in reverse, and he tells her that whispering it in Alfie's ear three times a day will magically cause him to grow.

His complicated plan, involving the purchase of a number of nearly-identical tortoises of varying size, is successful in winning the affection of Mrs Silver.