THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE

   Once upon a time .... there was a hare who, boasting how he could run 
faster than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness. Then 
one day, the irate tortoise answered back: "Who do you think you are? There's 
no denying you're swift, but even you can be beaten!" The hare squealed with 
laughter.
   "Beaten in a race? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there's nobody in the 
world that can win against me, I'm so speedy. Now, why don't you try?"
   Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A course was
planned, and next day at dawn they stood at the startiny line. The hare yawned
sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare saw how 
painfully slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a 
quick nap. "Take your time!" he said. "I'll have forty winks and catch up with
you in a minute."
   The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for
the tortoise. But the creature was only a short distance away, having barely 
covered a third of the course. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he
might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he 
had noticed in a nearby field. But the heavy meal and the hot sun made his 
eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the tortoise, now halfway along the 
course, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning 
post. And smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoise's face when it 
saw the hare speed by, he fell fast asleep and was soon snoring happily. The 
sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who had been 
plodding towards the winning post since morning, was scarcely a yard from the 
finish. At that very point, the hare woke with a jolt. He could see the 
tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a
great rate, his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath. Just a little more and
he'd be first at the finish. But the hare's last leap was just too late, for
the tortoise had beaten him to the winning post. Poor hare! Tired and in 
disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him.
   "Slowly does it every time!" he said.