Bad things happen to men who betray talking animals to the authorities

Similar motifs can be found in stories from around the world, but the differences are just as interesting:

The Chameleon Harpist (from the Fulani of Niger):

While hunting deep in the forest, a hunter came across a chameleon who could sing and play the harp beautifully. The chameleon made the hunter promise not to tell anyone about him. But the hunter was so excited at meeting a talking chameleon that he couldn't help sharing his story with other humans, including the king.

The king sent guardsmen with the hunter to confirm his story. "If there is such a chameleon, I will make you rich. But if there is not such a chameleon, you will pay with your life." When the hunter brought the guards to the chameleon in the deep forest, the chameleon kept silent. So the guards assumed that the hunter had been lying and killed him. After that, the chameleon spoke, "He brought about his own death. I told him not to tell anyone about me, but he had to tell the world because of his greed."¹

The Fiddler Tortoise (from the Ga ethnic group of Ghana):

A hunter found a tortoise playing a fiddle in the middle of the forest and singing, "Trouble never goes looking for humans, it is humans who always go looking for trouble." The hunter wanted to take the singing tortoise with him and make money by showing him to the public. The tortoise begged him not to do so, and the two reached a compromise: the tortoise would go home with the man, but it would only play music privately for the man and no one else.

The hunter could not keep this secret for long. He told his friends about the tortoise. The story eventually reached the chief. The chief ordered the hunter to make the tortoise sing before his court. But the tortoise remained silent no matter how much the hunter begged, and the hunter was put to death. After that, the tortoise sang, "Trouble never goes looking for humans, it is humans who always go looking for trouble." When the chief learned of what had happened, he ordered his servants to return the tortoise to its original home. ²

This story crossed the Atlantic. An African American version from Alabama did not involve a fiddle or a broken promise:

A slave found a large turtle lying on the bank of a pond. The turtle greeted the man. The man said, "I didn't know you could talk," to which the turtle replied, "You talk too much." The slave ran back to his master's house and told the master about the talking turtle. His master did not believe him, but he agreed to go with the slave to the pond. He said that he would beat the slave if the turtle did not talk.

Sure enough, the turtle refused to speak in front of the master, and the slave was taken back to the house and beaten. After that, the slave went back to the pond and asked the turtle, "Why didn't you talk? You knew I was going to get a beating?" The turtle answered, "You talk too much anyhow."³

The Golden Deer (from India):

The Ruru Deer is one of the Jataka tales about Buddha's past incarnations.

There was a merchant's son who spent his late parents' fortunes on frivolous merrymaking and then borrowed money that he could not repay. He threw himself into the Ganges to escape his creditors. A golden deer with silver horns lived near the river bend downstream. It heard the distressed cries of the merchant's son and swam to his rescue. The deer nourished the man with wild fruits and then sent him on his way, asking the man not to tell anyone about its existence. The merchant's son promised to keep the golden deer a secret.

The man came to Benares, where the queen had a dream about a golden deer preaching the law to her. The queen asked her husband the king to find such a deer, so the king proclaimed that a rich reward would be given to whoever could bring tidings of the golden deer. The merchant's son, eager to claim the reward, had no hesitation about betraying his rescuer. He led the king's army to where the deer lived. But the deer came before the king and asked who had led him there. When the king pointed out the merchant's son, the deer rebuked its false friend and revealed to the king how it had saved the man from drowning only to be rewarded with treachery.

The king was angry and wanted to kill the merchant's son, but the deer stopped him, counseling him to keep his promise to the man. The king granted a boon to the deer, that all creatures, beginning with it, should be free from danger. In return, the deer returned with the king to Benares, where it preached virtue to the queen, the king and all the court. After some time, it returned to the forest.

Notes

1. "For Your Ears Only", The Orphan Girl and Other Stories: West African Folk Tales, retold by Buchi Offodile
2. "Why singing tortoises are solitary", West African Folktales, translated and collected by Jack Berry
3. "You talk too much anyhow", African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World, selected and edited by Roger D. Abrahams