One day, the rabbit went out and saw the turtle crawling ahead, so he went up and said, “Turtle, where are you off to so early in the morning?”
The turtle replied, “I’m exercising to keep fit by running!”
The rabbit laughed so hard he couldn’t catch his breath and said, “This is the first time I’ve heard of a turtle running; you’re crawling, not running!”
Seeing the rabbit mocking it, the turtle became upset and said, “Who knows, one day you might run slower than me!”
The rabbit didn’t like this at all and defiantly said, “Then let’s have a race right now and see who’s faster!”
The turtle agreed, saying, “Okay!”
The rabbit asked, “Who will be our referee?”
Just then, they heard a voice saying, “I can be your referee.”
The rabbit and the turtle looked up and saw the Sun.
The Sun said, “The finish line will be set at the foot of that tree on the mountain. I’ll count down from 3, 2, 1, and when I say 1, you start running.”
So, the rabbit and the turtle positioned themselves, and when the Sun counted down to 1, the rabbit swiftly dashed forward.
After running for a while, the rabbit thought, “I wonder where that turtle has gotten to.”
So, the rabbit looked back and almost laughed out loud. The turtle had only just left the starting point.
The rabbit thought to himself, “I’ll just take a break. Even if it manages to pass me, I can effortlessly overtake it. I will definitely win this race!”
So, the rabbit stopped and found a soft patch of grass to lie down on.
Basking in the sun, it watched the struggling turtle crawling along and couldn’t help but laugh heartily.
Lying on the soft grass, soaking up the warm sunshine, the rabbit drifted off to sleep.
In its slumber, it heard someone calling out to it. Opening its eyes, it saw the Sun.
The Sun said, “You better wake up quickly; the turtle is almost catching up to you.”
The rabbit glanced at the turtle and indeed, it was not far behind.
However, the rabbit’s eyelids were heavy, so it said, “I’ll just sleep a bit more and wait for it. Don’t say I didn’t give it a chance.”
The rabbit rolled over and fell back asleep.
After a while, the rabbit heard the Sun calling again.
The Sun said, “Why haven’t you woken up yet? The turtle has already passed you.”
The rabbit looked and indeed, the turtle had crawled past it.
But the rabbit still felt heavy-eyed and said, “I’ll just sleep a bit more, let it go ahead, let it take a few more steps.”
The rabbit rolled over and fell asleep again.
Finally, the rabbit woke up refreshed. It leaped up energetically and said, “Watch me, I’ll surpass the turtle with just a few steps.”
But suddenly, it heard applause and cheering. What’s going on? The rabbit looked in the direction of the sound and saw many young animals like fawns, lambs, and doves surrounding the turtle.
The rabbit exclaimed, “Isn’t this turtle supposed to be racing against me? And here it is, playing around with other animals.”
The Sun replied, “The turtle has already reached the finish line. It’s the champion of this race between the hare and the tortoise, and everyone is congratulating it.”
The rabbit looked and indeed, the turtle had reached the tree at the foot of the mountain.
The rabbit, feeling frantic, hurriedly ran up to the turtle and said, “This race doesn’t count.”
The fawn asked, “Why doesn’t it count?”
The rabbit replied, “Because… because I fell asleep in the middle…”
Everyone laughed.
The lamb said, “It’s all because you were too proud and lazy.”
The dove said, “Although the turtle ran slowly, it worked hard and persisted until the end, ultimately winning the race, deserving of the victory!”
The Sun announced, “Allow me to declare, in the race between the hare and the tortoise, the tortoise is the winner!”
With that, the Sun loudly conveyed the message to the animals in the forest.
From then on, the story of the race between the hare and the tortoise became known to everyone.
The rabbit, feeling disheartened, lowered its head. From that day on, it never dared to mock others casually, and it certainly never dared to be lazy again.
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