Yertle was king of all he could see but that was not enough, for he could only see the pond in which he lived. So he ordered nine turtles to stack themselves up so he could climb higher and see more.
But soon he found that that was still not enough so he ignored Mack's pleas (Mack is the turtle at the bottom of the stack) and ordered more and more until he had about five thousand, six hundred and seven (that rhymes with heaven, you see). But just as Yertle was beginning to enjoy the view, Mack burped and his burp toppled Yertle's throne!
And today, the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course... all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
A fantastic allegory, which is just the thing to follow Sphere, which had a lot also to do with power. The "other Stories" in the collection are just as wonderful. One titled Gertrude McFuzz who wanted two feathers like Lolla-Lee Lou, and the other titled "The Big Brag", about a rabbit who felt he was better than everyone else. Lots of fun to read, Angel Girl and the Little Gentleman enjoyed them thoroughly.
