Vasya saw two small turtles in the pet store, but his mother refused to buy them, because they already had an old tortoise, Masha, and three turtles in the house were too much.

When his mother fell asleep, Vasya carried Masha to the market. There he found a buyer ready to buy an old turtle for his son. Before buying this man for a long time he turned the shell in his hands, wanting to make sure that he was not empty, and the turtle, as luck would have it, refused to stick its head out. Vasya was even upset that Masha was so indifferent to breaking up with him. Selling Masha, Vasya bought small turtles with the money he received and joyfully brought them home. He fiddled with them all day, fed, played, and, falling asleep, told his mother how much he loved his new turtles. To this, the mother noticed that the old friend was no better than the new two.

After the words of his mother, Vasya begins to torment his conscience. Masha is already old, and it is not known whether the new owners can handle her properly, but he did not even have time to explain how to care for her.

Having got up at night, he took turtles, toys and went to the buyers of Masha. Waking up and seeing that there were no turtles in the box, the mother understood everything and went for her son. Watching him from afar, she guarded Vasya, so that no one would interfere with his first good deed.