Famous Fictional Figures: Yertle the Turtle - Springfield, MA

Yertle the Turtle

Springfield, MA

N 42° 06.239 W 072° 35.173

Quick Description: 

Yertle the Turtle is the main character in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss. The sculpture is located at he newly opened (June 3, 2017) Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum at the the Quadrangle, 21 Edwards St., Springfield, MA.

Long Description:

A 10' tall blue and black sculpture of Yertle the Turtle and the other turtles in the pond is the tallest of the sculptures of Dr. Seuss fictional characters featured in the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum. Yertle the Turtle first appears in the book Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories published in 1950.

Yertle the Turtle is depicted sitting on top of a stack of five other turtles. He is king of the pond. He commands other turtles to stack themselves beneath him so that he can see farther and thus expand his kingdom. The stack collapses under it's own weight, freeing all the turtles.

The moral is contained in the last stanza:

"And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course… all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be."

by Dr. Seuss