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Aesop's Fables  

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 u p...

...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…’

‘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.

The 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.