The rabbit and the tortoise story is a famous story which was known by the majority of us. It teaches a very good moral that can be used in our life situations. Let’s get into the story.
There lived a rabbit named Harry in a dense forest. He was very proud of his speed. Harry used to laugh and humiliate the other slower animals. He asked other animals to participate in a race with him and humiliated the slower animals when they lost the race. All the other animals in that forest did not like Harry’s behavior and were furious about him. They all wanted to teach Harry a life lesson so that he will not humiliate the other slower animals ever again.
In the same forest, there also lived a clever old tortoise named Tom. Many animals approached Tom if they were in trouble and took Tom’s advice. As all the animals were worried about Harry’s behavior, they wanted to approach Tom again for the advice. They all went to Tom’s house and told him about Harry’s rude behavior. Tom thought of a plan for a while and asked the other animals to set up a race with Harry the next day.
The animals were shocked when they heard Tom asking them to set up a race with Harry who is much faster than him. But all the animals believed that there was some reason behind Tom’s plan and all of them went to Harry’s house and asked Harry to participate in the race.
Harry laughed loudly when he heard the other animals asking him to race with Tom who is one of the oldest and slowest animals in that forest. At last, Harry agreed to participate in the race. He was overconfident that he would win the race.
The very next morning, all the animals came to the race court and saw Tom was already ready in the race court. Tom was smiling and was confident. Tom greeted all the animals. Then came Harry with a little carrot in his hand. The race has started. Tom had started to move very slowly but Harry had started with a great speed and already reached half of the distance.
After a while, Harry looked behind and did not find Tom even in his line of sight. He thought that Tom would take much time to reach him. So, Harry sat under a tree and ate his carrot which he brought with it, and started running again. After a while, Harry felt sleepy as he ate a carrot and wanted a small nap. As he did not find Tom behind, he took a nap under a tree.
Tom slowly reached the place where Harry slept after a long time and he saw him sleeping. He smiled at Harry and started to move slowly again. After some time, Harry woke up and looked behind again. He did not find Tom and thought he was still far behind. He decided to complete the race and started running towards the end line.
After running some distance, he was shocked as he saw Tom who is already very near to the finish line. Harry then with his full energy tried to run but Tom had already crossed the end line. The other animals who were eagerly waiting for Tom to win celebrated and praised Tom. On the other hand, Harry was depressed and left the place. Harry had learned a life lesson and never criticized other slower animals ever after.
Moral – From this story, we can learn that slow and steady wins the race. We should be consistent with what we do and we should never give up. Being overconfident and proud will make us fail. Winning is secondary but giving our best efforts matters. Our efforts will bring us success. If we are good at anything, we should never criticize or humiliate others who are not good at that.
