Turtles and fences

Imagine you are walking along out and about, come across a fence, and, eventually see a turtle positioned on top of a fence post. I am guessing you might raise your eyebrows in surprise. This is how William R. Brody quotes the story of the turtle on a fence post, in the book Uncommon Sense: Said the farmer: “When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fencepost [sic] with a turtle balanced on top, that’s a post turtle.” […] “Here’s the thing about post turtles: You know he didn’t get there by hisself [sic], he sure don’t belong there, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, and any decent folks would just want to help the dang fool get down and move on.” William R. Brody, Uncommon Sense, page 57. Indeed, the turtle will not have gotten there by itself. But, it did get there somehow. The image of a turtle on top of a fence post may be expressive, absurd even, but this is of course not really literally about that specifically. The post turtle is a very helpful…