Again, I would like to credit the Greek legacy with this classic fable, the story being traditionally attributed to the talents of Aesop.
The sun was streaming in long yellow shafts through the trees, catching the pollen floating in the air so that it sparkled. The Hare’s fluttering eyes drank in the scenery and clung to the euphoric glow cast by the combination of late afternoon sun and late afternoon naps. Finally, he could no longer keep the world out of focus and came to the disgruntling recognition that he was just perfectly positioned in the niche of a tree so that a knotted root could embed itself directly in the center of his back. After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he sat blankly for a few moments until he could remember the reason for this painful position; then, he dragged himself up, stretched out, and placidly trotted on down the road.
As a deserted finish line entered into view, this placidity went through the stages of heart-thumping dread to sickening despair to insufferable humiliation faster than the light disappears in the moment between twilight and dusk. So, this was the consequence of his agreement to race with a stubby-legged Tortoise. The Tortoise’s initial suggestion of the race had been instigated by the Hare’s puerile ridicule of him. He saw the twinkle in the Tortoise’s eye as he made this ludicrous proposal but agreed to it nonetheless for it would be an amusing escapade.
So, it was that the powerful Hare had found himself at the starting point of a race with a withered old Tortoise. At the sound of the starting signal, the Hare began inching forward right behind the Tortoise, mocking his steady gait and making the onlookers laugh heartily. After a few moments of this heckling, he suddenly bounded over the Tortoise and darted ahead on the path, twitting loudly as he faded from view, “I’ll drop by the finish line next week to see if you make it!” Finding an appealing hollow in a tree further up the path, he decided he would wait there for the Tortoise to pass and then make a dramatic scene at the finish line. However, the Hare did not possess the endurance to resist the onslaught of slumbers that approached and swiftly lost the opportunity to fulfill this plot. The Tortoise continued to trudge along diligently, though, despite the jeers of the heedless Hare and calloused crowd. As he passed the slumbering rabbit, he just smiled wryly and shook his head, “Someday before I’m dead, I’ll run into an intelligent Hare, and this situation won’t end the same way every time!”