Once upon a time there was a young woman living in a house by the edge of a river called Turtle (Cheloni in Greek). On Zeus and Ira’s wedding Hermes invited not only the Gods, but the humans and the animals also. Cheloni liked too much staying at her place and did not attend the wedding. Hermes noticed the absence, returned to earth, grabbed the house with the young lady and dropped it into the water. Cheloni was transformed into an animal, the turtle, which will never again be apart from its house, as a punishment.

Pierre Grimal, Lexicon of Greek and Roman Mythology