Tortoise and Hare

Hare was annoyed. Tortoise was just moving so slow, and they were going to be late!

"Can you PLEASE move faster?" she said in frustration, knowing full well that he could not.

This upset Tortoise, and he said "I could if I wanted to! I just don't think it's a big deal!? So what if we are a few minutes late!".

Hare was very hurt. She was always trying to be understanding of the slower Tortoise, after all. She planned her days around him and his pace, and even took on a great deal of Tortoise's daily work and chores, all because she was faster.

"Ok, fine" she said in a huff. "You can absolutely go faster. Why should you, though? You did almost NO work for the event we will be late to! It's no scute off YOUR shell!"

Now, Hare understood that this did not help the situation. She felt bad immediately.

It was too late for apologies, however.

Tortoise became infuriated. He shouted many obscenities, stumbled through his defenses, then finally shouted "I challenge you to a race! We will see who is faster!"

Fox, who could not help but overhear, decided this would be a good way for the proud Tortoise to finally understand how much Hare did by comparison. All the Animals saw how much Tortoise took advantage of Hare, after all. He agreed to not only judge the race, but to come up with the path and obstacles they would have to take.

Hare listened to these two male Animals make plans about this race she in no way agreed to and sighed. This will NOT go well.

If she lets him win, she will never hear the end of it. He will be even more intolerable!

If she runs the race in earnest, doing her best, she will win for sure. Then Tortoise will be so morose that he will make all the Animals miserable for the foreseeable future.

'This was the definition of a no-win situation' Hare thought to herself.

The well-meaning Fox came up with a sure fire plan to make sure Hare won. He did not understand how Hare winning could be a terrible idea.

The race would span the length of the forest. The runners would have to jump over a series of boulders, pick a pear from the tree in the center of the forest and, to be fair to Tortoise while not making it too difficult on Hare, swim across the river.

The race would be in three days.

Tortoise spent the three days resting and checking out the path the race should take, while Hare spent the three days doing all of Tortoises work clearing the forest and collecting food, on top of her own.

By the time the race started, she was very, very tired.

She had decided that it was best that she win the race...but not by as far a margin as she knew she was capable of, even in her state of exhaustion.

She would help Tortoise with the two tasks that should be impossible for him, just to make it fair. She appreciated what Fox was trying to do, but she wanted to make sure Tortoise wasn't too upset when he lost. Hare wished someone would listen to her.

Hare sped ahead as soon as Fox threw the flag to begin the race. There was a whole forest of Animals depending on her to win, after all. She could not let them down any more than she could humiliate Tortoise! All this juggling the expectations of everyone around her, plus the extra work of the last 3 days, made her already move slower than usual. She was just plain exhausted, after all!

Still, Hare bolted ahead, leaving a comical cloud of dust to fall over the slow plodding of Tortoise.

She ran to the first hurdle of boulders, and stopped there for a while. Hare knew Tortoise would end up on his back, and would be there to flip him over.

An hour or so later Tortoise showed up and, sure enough, he flipped himself over on his back several times trying to crawl over the boulders. Hare helped him every time by running in and quickly flipping him, then hiding again.

She had dome this many times in the past. Tortoise always believed he did it alone. She saw no reason to correct him.

After the hurdles were behind them, Hare took a longer route through the forest so she would not be detected. She ended up at the pear tree with plenty of time to spare. She quickly jumped up the tree, picked several pears, and left them on the ground where Tortoise could easily find them. She knew she had plenty of time, and was very hungry, so she ate one of the pears and closed her eyes for just a moment.

Tortoise came by, and Hare was fast asleep. He laughed at how silly and weak this vain creature was. How dare she sleep during a race!? Was she just THAT confident that she was better than him? How stupid and lazy can one Animal be? He crept up as quietly as he could, so that he could benefit from this advantage.

He wasn't sure how he would be able to get a pear, but he knew it would all work out. Things always seemed to work out for him, after all! Look at how good he did with those hurdles that the other Animals were sure he would fail. He was just that good; there was no doubt that he would win this race and show that lazy girl!

What luck! There were pears on the ground, right in front of him! He laughed that the silly Hare probably ran up to pick her own pear, wasting energy. Then she ATE it too!

The very idea that Hare could even consider herself better than him...he could do just as much as her without stuffing himself, taking naps, and running around in a panic, yelling at everyone.

This was all proof of his superiority.

He held on to the stem of the pear very carefully, then continued on his path. The rest of the race would be easier than what lay behind him, as most of it would be in water- his own element. He chuckled as he walked away.

An hour later, Hare woke with a start. She couldn't believe she fell asleep!!! Of all the times to have a bout of narcolepsy...

She cursed to herself as she grabbed a pear off the ground and ran to the river. She hoped Tortoise hadn't gotten too far ahead!

As she ran, Tortoise thought of all the people she would let down if she lost, and how awful the Tortoise would be if he won. He was a worse winner than a loser, and that was saying a lot!

Rife with concern, she spotted Tortoise getting out of the river far ahead of her, and sped up. Taking a flying leap into the river, she swam as fast as she could, clutching her pear until it bruised.

She HAD to catch up!

She leapt out of the river, and sped ahead, in a blind panic. It would be close, but she could do it!

It was close...but not in the way she hoped. Tortoise hit the finish line mere seconds before she did. The crowd went wild with surprise! They lifted Tortoise up, and carried him around, celebrating his miraculous win.

Later on, Tortoise told the story of how he was slow and steady, never giving up or quitting despite the odds being stacked against him, and how the lazy hare fell asleep after eating several pears. Hare, who was always honest, admitted to eating and sleeping, but the other Animals would not let her explain. They taunted her for acting so superior, and complaining about Tortoise being lazy when she was clearly the lazy one.

"Slow and steady wins the race" became the new saying around the forest. hare, dejected and depressed, tried to live with her humiliation for a time. After a few weeks of being ignored and mocked by the other Animals, however, she decided to find herself a new home. She packed her few belongings and left her home.

Months went by and Tortoise was still enjoying his monumental fame. No one noticed that the work of clearing the forest of all the dry sticks and foliage went undone, or that the food stores were down to almost nothing. The hare usually did that, and no one thought anything of it.

The fire took everyone by surprise. It sped through the dry underbrush with a shocking speed. Half of the Animals died a brutal death in their sleep. The rest tried to run but were all too slow. hare was usually there to carry them to safety in a quick manner, but she was gone!

Tortoise and some other Animals survived by hiding in the river. When the danger was over, they went to find the stores of food they usually kept safely underground, only to find it empty. Tortoise was very upset, and blamed that lazy hare for neglecting her duties because of a little light teasing. He also accused her of stealing their stores of food to get revenge. He shared these thoughts with the remaining animals, and they all angrily agreed that the fault lay with that awful hare.

They went to find her in her new home, and at least take back the food they stole from her. They finally found her in a little warren on the foot of a hill, far from the forest. They were hungry and exhausted. In their delirium, they all decided that hare had actually been the one to start the fire. They rushed in, and beat poor hare to death without another word, and took what little she had to split amongst them. They found another forest, with other Animals, and shared their story of woe regarding the monster they called the hare.

This forest had many other Hares, and all of them suffered greatly from these stories. They were forced to live underground, and guard the food stores without the benefit of eating any themselves without permission from the Tortoise. They were allowed out only to clean the forest and help the other Animals.

Eventually, the hares became used to this treatment, and no one ever questioned it again.