Near to a Chippewa village lay a large lake, and in this lake there
lived an enormous turtle. This was no ordinary turtle, as he would
often come out of his home in the lake and visit with his Indian
neighbors. He paid the most of his visits to the head
chief, and on these occasions would stay for hours, smoking and
talking with him.

The chief, seeing that the turtle was very smart and showed great
wisdom in his talk, took a great fancy to him, and whenever any
puzzling subject came up before the chief, he generally sent for
Mr. Turtle to help him decide.

One day there came a great misunderstanding between different
parties of the tribe, and so excited became both sides that it
threatened to cause bloodshed. The chief was unable to decide for
either faction, so he said, "I will call Mr. Turtle. He will
judge for you."

Sending for the turtle, the chief vacated his seat for the time
being, until the turtle should hear both sides, and decide which
was in the right. The turtle came, and taking the chief's seat,
listened very attentively to both sides, and thought long before he
gave his decision. After thinking long and studying each
side carefully, he came to the conclusion to decide in favor of
both. This would not cause any hard feelings. So he gave them a
lengthy speech and showed them where they were both in the right,
and wound up by saying:

"You are both in the right in some ways and wrong in others.