The Tortoise and the Hare
Aesop's Fable
It was a cold winter’s night. It was snowing on the rooftops and on the streets. It was snowing on the forests and on the fields. The birds had taken to their nests, the badgers huddled together in their sets, and the foxes lay shivering in their dens. Somewhere, in a warm, cosy bed in a warm, cozy room in a warm, cosy house, lay a warm, cosy little girl. Beside the bed sat her father who was about to read her a story.
This is how it began:
“Once upon a time...”
“When was it, Daddy?” asked the little girl. She asked a lot of questions.
“When this story began, love. Now don’t interrupt, please. Once upon a time,” he went on quickly, “in the middle of the forest, a hare bumped into a tortoise. The hare took one look at the tortoise and burst out laughing.
‘What a ridiculous creature you are,’ he said.
‘That’s most unkind,’ Tortoise said, sniffing. He was very hurt but he was not going to cry. ‘If you think you’re so much better than me, why don’t you prove it? We could have a race. Yes, that’s it: I challenge you to a race!’
‘A race. Ha, ha, ha! Why, you wouldn’t stand a chance!’ Hare giggled. ‘It’d be a complete waste of time; like pitting a tortoise against a hare.’ He thought this was a tremendous joke
‘You can laugh, Hare, you can laugh. Just you wait.’
But Hare only laughed even louder, so Tortoise decided to be rude to him.
'Of course, if you daren't risk it, big ears...'
Hare stopped laughing and rose to his full height.
'Dare! Me dare race you, you cheeky little hard-topped toad! I'll show you.'
So the following day Hare and Tortoise went to the middle of the forest to start their race.
Hare had invited all his friends to come and watch. They stood by the starting-line and laughed at Tortoise. Tortoise ignored them.
Hare ran like the wind. Tortoise crawled along at a snail's pace. By the time Hare came into the sight of the finishing-post, Tortoise was still in sight of the start.
‘I might as well sit down here for an hour or two,’ thought the Hare out loud. ‘This is very boring. It’ll be much more fun if Tortoise actually sees me finish. I can’t wait to see the look on his face!’
Hare lay down under a tree and waited. He waited for ages and ages, until it felt as though he had been waiting for ever. In the end he decided to have a snooze. It would pass the time nicely.
He was woken by the sound of great waves crashing against the rocks. Hare rubbed his eyes and looked toward the finishing-post. Then he realized that the waves weren’t waves at all.
Hundreds of animals had gathered at the finish and every single one of them was cheering on tortoise.
He was going to win. By the time Hare came haring up behind him it was too late. Tortoise had already crossed the line.
‘Oh, Hare,’ chortled Rabbit, ‘fancy losing a race to a tortoise!’
‘What a joke!’ screeched Squirrel, pointing at Hare.
‘A disgrace! Shocking! Not fit to be called a hare’ muttered all the other hares and refused to speak to him. Hare hung his head. He wished he had never been born. That’ll teach him,’ murmured Mole.
‘Quite,’ agreed Owl. ‘Pride comes before a fall.’
‘Slow but sure,’ he kept saying. ‘Slow but sure.’ It was the happiest day of his life.
“There,” said the little girl’s father, closing the book. “What did you think of that? Served old Hare right, didn’t it?”
“Mmmm,” she replied rather dreamily. Secretly she felt rather sorry for Hare.
“Time to sleep now.” Her father kissed her.
“Goodnight,” she mumbled into her pillow.
The little girl slowly drifted into sleep. She was thinking about the story. It did seem extraordinary that the tortoise won, no matter how careless the hare was. After all, tortoises are very slow.
As soon as she was asleep she began to dream. As soon as she began to dream she met an old man with a long white beard who looked very sad.
“Why are you sad, old man?’ she asked.
“ Why am I sad? Anyone in my position would be sad.”
He stared fiercely at the little girl who was pestering him, so she waited patiently for him to explain what his position was. She had to be patient because it was a long time before he spoke.
“I’ll tell you why I’m sad,” he said at last. “They’ve stolen all my stories, that’s why. They were all stories about animals I know. Friends of mine, you might say. People stole the stories and changed them. Gave them meanings I didn’t mean at all. They even call them Aesop’s Fables now
As though they weren’t even true. Might just as well call them Aesop’s Fibs.”
“What’s Aesop?” asked the little girl.
“Me, silly. I’m Aesop. Didn’t they even tell you that? They’ll be pretending that I don’t exist next. Really!”
Aesop went very red in the face and looked sad again.
“Perhaps it’s better that way. Better to be incognito.”
“What’s ink-hog-thingummy?"
“You do ask a lot of questions, don’t you? Incognito means that nobody knows who you are.”
The little girl was still confused. “I’m afraid that I don’t really understand about your stories. How can a story be changed?”
The old man looked at her and shook his head.
“Don’t children learn anything these days? Honestly. Oh, alright then. I might as well explain. Let’s take an example. Do you know the story of the tortoise and the hare?”
“Yes I do. My daddy just read it to me.”
“Well I bet I know how the story went,” said Aesop gloomily.
“Why, the tortoise won because the stupid old hare fell asleep,” said the little girl.
“ And everyone said that it served Hare right,” sighed Aesop.
“That’s right,” she replied. “How did you know?”
“Because I wrote the story, of course. Except that it wasn’t like that at all. Do you want me to tell you what really happened?”
“Oh, yes please,” she said eagerly.
“Well it was like this,” began Aesop. “ One day, Hare was skipping through the woods enjoying himself. He usually did.”
“He usually did what?” asked the little girl.
“Enjoying himself. I just said so. Now don’t start interrupting. Where was I? Oh yes, there was Hare, having a good time in the woods, when up came Badger.
‘Hello, Hare,’ boomed Badger. ‘You’re just that chap I wanted to see. There’s a bit of a problem with Tortoise and I think you might be able to help.’
‘I’d be delighted to,’ replied Hare, who was extremely kindhearted only slightly mad.
‘Poor old Tortoise is very unhappy, poor chap. Thinks he’s slow and dull, which he is of course, but it’s not his fault; it’s what comes of being a tortoise. Me and the others, Mole, Owl, Rabbit, and the rest, think he needs a bit of a boost. Which is where you come in.’
‘I come in?’ frowned Hare.
‘Yes. You see, Tortoise is always going on about you. He says you’re so lucky, always smiling and leaping around without a care in the world. You’re so easygoing and athletic- everything he’s not. So we thought you should have a race together.’
‘A race? You mean a running race?’ asked Hare. Unable to believe his ears; he was so much faster than Tortoise that he couldn’t at all see how a race would help.
‘ A running race, exactly,’ repeated Badger, rubbing his big paws together. ‘Only you let Tortoise win. Of course, you can’t just run slower than he does. That would be impossible, except for a snail. But you can make a mistake, get lost, run into a tree and knock yourself out, anything to make Tortoise think he beat you because he’s got something you haven’t. Not speed, certainly, but endurance and sense of direction. Should cheer the old reptile up no end. If you don’t mind, that is.’
‘Not at all,’ beamed Hare. ‘Great idea, yippee!’ And he leaped around with pleasure at the thought of making Tortoise happy.
‘But I shan’t knock myself out, if you don’t mind. Not necessary and very painful. I’ve got it. I’ll pretend to need a rest and fall asleep. That’ll give him time to finish.’
And that’s the way it happened. Tortoise only just won so it really did look as if Hare was trying. Tortoise was overjoyed and Hare was the first to congratulate him.
‘Well done, Tortoise, well done. It just goes to show that speed isn’t everything.’
‘Quite,’ agreed Badger, slapping Tortoise on the back. ‘Ouch, ow, and ouch!’ It was a very hard shell. ‘Slow but sure, slow but sure, that’s my Tortoise,’ he added, shaking his injured paw.
'You’re all so kind,’ said Tortoise, who was blushing so much that even his shell seemed to go red. ‘It was nothing really.’
Tortoise never knew how right he was.
“So there it is, young lady,” said Aesop. “the true story of the tortoise and the hare. It’s been surprisingly nice talking to you, I must say. I feel much better now.”
Aesop looked at his watch.
“Heavens, just look at the time. I must be off at once. I’m already late for someone else’s dream.”
And without more ado the old man vanished.
“Hmmm,” thought the little girl, when he had gone, “I don’t know what to think anymore. But I know one thing: it’s not who wins that counts, it’s who tells the story.”
She smiled to herself and started another dream.