HOW THE TERRAPIN'S BACK CAME TO BE IN CHECKS - Creek (Tuggle collection) A woman was beating sofki in a mortar out in her yard when she heard someone calling to her and making fun of her. She stopped and looked around, but saw no one. She began beating the corn again, and again heard the voice ridiculing her. She stopped and searched but in vain. Again she heard the voice, which seemed to come from under the wooden mortar, so she lifted the mortar and there found a Terrapin. As he was the guilty one, she took the pestle and beat him on the back until she broke his shell into little pieces and left him as dead. After she left, the Terrapin began to sing in a faint voice: Char-tee-lee-lee (tcatilili) I come together Char-tee-lee-lee I come together Char-tee-lee-lee I come together Char-tee-lee-lee I come together The pieces came together as he sang, but his back always looked scarred, and terrapins have ever since then had checkered backs. Myths and Tales of the Southeastern Indians, by John R. Swanton; Smithsonian Institution, USGPO, Washington, D.C.; Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 88 [1929] and is now in the public domain.