I grew up on a farm in Turtle Township
Often we played with kids downtown
on the Beloit College campus. One day
during hide-and-seek I wandered to a
seldom traveled bluff beyond the
observatory overlooking Rock River
noticed the grass made a large low mound
saw the mound had grassy mound feet, a
head, a tail: it was an immense grassy turtle!
Why had no one shown anyone this? Indians
must have sculpted it; the whole campus
was an Indian burial ground and we often
sat on the mounds. Was this where Turtle
Township got its name? Many years later
I walked back to look at the turtle and found
some college gardener had planted bushes
around its feet, totally spoiling the image.
I never mentioned this gigantic turtle to anyone;
it must still be there but minus, I hope, the bushes.
2024 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in When kids can’t read.
