01 The Hare and the Tortoise

1. THE HARE AND THE

TORTOISE

By Rob John

‘Look at me!’ said the Hare to the

other animals. ‘Just look how fast I

can run.’

The Hare ran across a field as fast

as he could. All the animals agreed

that yes the Hare was very fast.

The Hare ran back.

‘See,’ he shouted. ‘I’m not even out

of breath.’

‘Yeah, that was fast,’ said a Fox.

‘So who wants a race?’ said the

Hare. ‘Anybody think they could

beat me?’

None of the animals spoke.

‘See,’ said the Hare. ‘You’re all too

scared to even try.’

‘I’ll have a go,’ said the Tortoise.

The Hare laughed. ‘You? The slow

est creature in the whole world?

I’m not wasting my time racing a

Tortoise.’

‘What’s the matter?’ said the

Tortoise. ‘Scared I might beat you?’

Some of the animals laughed at

that so the Hare said, ‘Alright then,

Tortoise. Let’s have a race...right

now...then we’ll see who’s laughing.’

‘Not today,’ said the Tortoise. ‘We’ll

race next week. Got to do a bit of

training first.’

Next morning the animals watched

the Tortoise do his ‘training’. First

he did some gentle stretching exer

cises to warm himself up...

...and then he started to run.

‘Has he started running yet?’ asked

the Fox.

‘Hard to tell with Tortoises,’ said the

Badger. ‘He’s definitely moving.’

‘Is he?’ said the Fox.

‘Tortoise, are you sure about this?’

said the Crow. ‘I mean the Hare IS

very fast and you…well…’

1‘Don’t worry,’ said the Tortoise.

‘This is just day one. I’ll speed up.

You’ll see.’

On the day of the race crowds of

animals came to watch. The

Tortoise slowly made his way to

the starting line and then

suddenly...

...the Hare arrived at top speed

wearing a brand new track suit and

four expensive-looking trainers.

‘The race starts here.’ said the Fox

pointing to a line on the ground.

‘And ends at that tree on the other

side of the field. First one to touch

the tree is the winner.’

‘Right, let’s get on with it,’ said the

Hare. ‘Ready Tortoise? Ready to

see some real speed?’

‘I’m ready,’ said the Tortoise.

‘Ready, steady...go!’ said the

Fox and the race began.

The Hare roared off then stopped

and looked back. The Tortoise was

still crossing the starting line. The

Hare ran back to the Tortoise.

‘Didn’t you hear him say go? You

can start, you know.’

‘I have started,’ said the Tortoise.

‘Look,’ said the Hare. ‘You’re going

so slowly I’m going to have a rest.

Might even have a little sleep. I’ll

finish the race when I wake up and

still beat you by miles.’

The Hare lay down in the sun and

fell asleep. The Tortoise kept going.

Slowly, steadily he moved across

the field and by evening time he

was getting close to the finishing

tree. Still the Hare slept on and

now the animals started to get

excited.

‘You know what? I think he might

win,’ said a Rabbit.

‘I can’t believe it,’ said the Badger.

‘The Tortoise might actually win.’

The animals started to get excited

and as the Tortoise got close to the

finishing tree they started to cheer.

‘Come on Tortoise,’ they shouted.

‘Nearly there. Keep going old

friend. Keep going.’

But the noise of the cheering crowd

woke up the Hare. He looked

across the field, saw the Tortoise

about to reach the tree and in a

flash he was running.

2The Tortoise heard the Hare thund

ering up behind him but he kept

going...and going...and suddenly

he was there. Just in time the

Tortoise touched the tree with

his nose. He’d done it. The Tortoise

had beaten the Hare fair and

square.

‘There you go,’ said the Badger.

‘Slow and steady’s sometimes bet

ter than fast and flashy.’

‘Not fair,’ said the Hare. ‘I was

asleep. We have to run the race

again. It’s not fair.’

But no-one was listening to the

Hare.

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