Zonke Tina is a very strange name for a tortoise, you'll agree
If you listen along to the words of this song
You'll learn how it came to be

And all those cracks on tortoises backs
Weren't caused because of speed
It happened many years ago
And all because of greed

There once was a beautiful valley
Where the animals used to thrive
But there came a very long drought
And many just couldn't survive

But the doves of the woods were lucky
For the peace goddess of the sky
Used to feed them up on the mountain
Where each day they would fly

So the tortoise said to all the doves
Fly me to that peak
For I am so very hungry
And I am so very weak

But the doves said, you're not one of us
You should not intrude
For if you're not her feathered friend
The goddess won't give you food

Zonke Tina is a very strange name for a tortoise, you'll agree
If you listen along to the words of this song
You'll learn how it came to be

And all those cracks on tortoise backs
Weren't caused because of speed
It happened many years ago
And all because of greed

You can disguise me, said the tortoise
If a feather each you'll take
And stick them over my horny shell
What a beautiful dove I'll make

You can call me Zonke Tina
Which means all of us
And you could carry me up to the mountain top
In you I really trust

So the Peace Goddess called from the peak
Who do I feed today?
Zonke Tina, said the tortoise
And he chased all the doves away

And he ate the food till he was full
But overlooked the fact
That he could not climb down from that peak
Because he was so fat

Zonke Tina is a very strange name for a tortoise, you'll agree
If you listen along to the words of this song
You'll learn how it came to be

And all those cracks on tortoise backs
Weren't caused because of speed
It happened many years ago
And all because of greed

So he looked down from the mountain
And below was a bed of straw
But it really was a bed of stones that the poor old tortoise saw

So he jumped down and he landed
Upon his horny back
And his shell broke into smithereens
And into a hundred cracks

Zonke Tina is a very strange name for a tortoise, you'll agree
If you listen along to the words of this song
You'll learn how it came to be

And all those cracks on tortoise backs
Weren't caused because of speed
It happened many years ago
And all because of greed