2 Tortoise 2 Hare
You're probably familiar with the fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare." (Or as it was known in the original Greek, "The Turtle and the Rabbit.") But did you know that there was a sequel to that story?
It goes like this...
- Well, Turtle was quite tired after that first race ended, but also quite pleased with himself. He had hoped to take advantage of Rabbit's notorious laziness to somehow plod past him in the race, but he hadn't known for sure if it would work. When he saw Rabbit sleeping on the side of the road, he laughed and laughed. What a ridiculous thing to do in the middle of a race!
- The next day Rabbit came to Turtle in surprisingly bright spirits. He told Turtle how much he enjoyed their race and hoped Turtle might be up for a rematch. Turtle was still sore, but promised they could race again the day after next. Rabbit agreed and they shook hands, which is to say Rabbit pawed at Turtle's foot until Turtle's glare drove Rabbit away.
- Two days later, Turtle was finally feeling better and they raced again. Turtle did not expect to win, but he was a good sport about it. If Rabbit had learned his lesson, he deserved to win the race.
- I say "IF" he learned his lesson, because halfway through the race Turtle again passed Rabbit sleeping by the side of the road. Turtle couldn't believe it! He laughed and laughed. And by the time Rabbit woke up and finished the race, Turtle was already over the finish line. He'd won again.
- This did not seem to bother Rabbit, who challenged Turtle again and again. They raced as often as Turtle's constitution would allow, every few days, for over a month. And in every race, Rabbit napped and lost!
- After their eleventh race, Rabbit came to Turtle and proposed yet another rematch. Turtle refused! He ached all over, and he was frankly sick of winning. "You've already lost eleven times," Turtle complained! "What makes you think you're going to win the twelfth time?"
- "Who cares about winning or losing," said Rabbit. "I just like running and napping."
The moral of the story is "Slow and steady wins the race. So if that's your thing, great." Or something like that.