Once upon a time, a tortoise and hare prepared to engage in a drag race. They spent months working on their cars, practicing their left turns, and, in the case of the hare, ragging on the tortoise.
“I will crush you on the race course!” He’d declare, following it up with a not so nice dance, and maybe a few insulting remarks about the tortoise’s mother. But the tortoise paid no mind. He just prepared for the race as he had ever done, slowly and steadily.
And yet, when the starting gun went off on the day of the race, the tortoise was going nowhere. The recent adjustments he’d made to his racecar to improve his performance had left his short little legs dangling just inches away from the pedal. Meanwhile, the hare burst off so quickly all the tortoise could see was an explosion of dust and tiny rocks. The badger was right behind him (yeah, there was also a badger racing, and if you think the hare sounds mean, you should have heard the things the badger was saying to hare just minutes before the race!)
So, the tortoise set to work with his blowtorch and hammer, adjusting the seat so he could reach the pedals and be on his way. With the tortoise nowhere in sight, the hare had already forgotten about him, and was concentrating all his energy on the badger, who was, it seemed, gaining on him at every turn. Also, making faces.
In fact, the hare was concentrating so hard on making sure the badger did not surpass him, that he failed to pay attention to the swerving road ahead of him, and he plunged straight into the wall in a fiery explosion.
Now, the badger saw all of this through his rear view mirror as he sailed past the hare, and as he watched the flames englufing the car, he realized that all this time, the hare was, in fact, the love of his life. He couldn’t live without him! He immediately made a u-turn, heading straight for the wreck.
And so, the tortoise won the race, passing the wreck in his newly adjusted car easily. As he accepted his shiny trophy, the badger walked across the finish line, half dragging the mangled and burned body of the hare, who was, miraculously, still alive. After the hare’s recovery, the two were together forever, although they did always have second thoughts about inviting the tortoise to their barbeques and wine tasting parties. He had, after all, driven right by while the hare remained in mortal peril.
The End.
Source: The Tortoise and the Hare, Aesop’s Fables
