Once
upon a time, on a small farm far away, there lived a little girl named
Lily. She loved to play outside and explore the fields. One day, she
met a very special friend: a large, wise tortoise named Shelly. (Shelly is often a girl's name but
since tortoises have shells, it seemed appropriate.) Shelly
loved to wander around the farm, often walking along the wooden fence
that surrounded it. Lily thought it would be fun to follow Shelly on his rounds. But Shelly was very slow, and Lily soon grew tired of walking behind him. "I wish he would walk faster!" she sighed. Then, Lily had a brilliant idea. "Shelly," she said, "why don't you go ahead, and I'll catch up with you later?" Shelly nodded slowly, and off he went. Lily waited for a while, giving Shelly a good head start. While she waited, she decided to pick some wildflowers. She gathered bright yellow daisies, purple asters, and delicate pink wildflowers. |
Lily kept repeating this routine.
She’d give Shelly a head start while she picked flowers. Then, she’d
catch up with Shelly, put the flowers in the basket, and sit to pick
more. Shelly would then plod along, and eventually Lily would catch up
with him again. Each time Lily caught up with Shelly, she’d say "Look, Shelly!" holding up the flowers. "I picked these for you." Shelly smiled and let Lily put the flowers into a special basket he carried on his back. "Thank you, Lily," he said. "They're beautiful." From then on, Lily and Shelly became the best of friends. Every day, Lily would follow Shelly on his walks, picking wildflowers along the way. She would give Shelly a long head start, and then catch up with him, filling his basket with colorful blooms. And so, they continued their adventures, the little girl and the wise old tortoise, exploring the fields and enjoying the beauty of nature together |
Google's Gemini AI wrote the above story
after being given this prompt: Write a bedtime story about a large tortoise and a 5-year-old girl. The girl lived on a small farm. The tortoise liked to walk along the fence. The girl liked to follow the tortoise on his rounds, but he was so slow. She solved this problem by sitting for a while to let the tortoise get ahead of her. During this time she would pick wildflowers. When she caught back up with the tortoise, she would put the wildflowers into a basket the tortoise carried on his back. Then, she'd pick more flowers while giving the tortoise a long head start. Note: Text in blue are words I've written to remove some rough spots. Also, I changed the title from The Tortoise and the Wildflowers to The Tortoise and the Girl. Bruce |