All of a sudden, something lightly brushed against her bare foot. Peering hard, for it was very dark, she saw a big tortoise looking up at her. Its mouth seemed to curve in a mysterious smile, and there was such a friendly light in its shrewd, black eyes that Momo felt it was about to speak.

She bent down and tickled it under the chin. "Who might you be?" she said softly. "Nice of you to come and keep me company, Tortoise, even if nobody else will. What can I do for you?"

Momo wasn't sure whether she'd failed to notice them before, or whether they'd only just appeared, but she suddenly spotted some letters on the tortoise's back. They were faintly luminous and seemed to follow the natural patterns on its shell.

FOLLOW ME, she slowly deciphered.

Astonished, she sat up with a jerk. "Do you mean me?" she asked.

But the tortoise had already set off. After a few steps it paused and looked back. "It really does mean me!" Momo said to herself. She got up and went over to the creature. "Keep going," she told it softly, "I'm right behind you."

And step by step she followed the tortoise as it slowly, very slowly, led her out of the ampitheater and headed for the city.