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A calm tortoise walks along a dirt path through wildflowers while, far behind, a hare sleeps under an olive tree.

The Hare and the Tortoise

An Aesop fable from ancient Greece

About 3 min to read

Tonight’s story comes from Greece again, a place of golden, sun-dried hills, old olive trees and cicadas buzzing all through the summer afternoon.

Long ago, in a certain wood, there lived a Hare who was the fastest runner around. The Hare knew it, and he loved talking about it. He told everyone he met.

One day the animals gathered at the edge of the wood. The Hare stood in the middle, ears straight up, and announced, “Nobody has ever beaten me when I run at full speed. Who here dares to race me?”

The animals looked at each other. Nobody said a word. They all knew how fast the Hare was.

Then a slow voice said, “I’ll race you.”

It was the Tortoise. He poked his head out of his shell and blinked.

The Hare burst out laughing and rolled in the grass. “You? Race me? I could dance circles round you the whole way!”

The Tortoise didn’t get cross. He only said, “Save your boasting until you’ve won. Shall we race?”

So the animals marked out a course, from the big oak tree to a wooden post at the end of the hill. Whoever reached the post first would win.

One, two, three, go!

The Hare shot off like an arrow. In a moment he was so far ahead you could barely see him. The Tortoise put one foot forward, then another, then another. Step by step, very slowly.

After a while the Hare looked back. The Tortoise was still a tiny speck far behind. Why hurry, thought the Hare. To show everyone what he thought of this race, he lay down in the shade of a tree, put his feet up and closed his eyes.

The afternoon sun was warm. A soft breeze blew. Soon the Hare was fast asleep.

And the Tortoise kept going. Step, and step, and step. He didn’t stop to rest, and he couldn’t go any faster. He just kept on, steady as ever. He walked past the tree where the Hare lay sleeping. He walked on up the slope. On and on he went.

By the time the Hare opened his eyes, stretched and gave a big yawn, he looked up the hill and saw the Tortoise standing right beside the wooden post.

The Hare leapt up and ran as fast as he possibly could. His feet hardly touched the ground. But it was too late. The Tortoise touched the post first.

The animals cheered. The Tortoise turned around, took a breath, and said slowly, “Slow and steady gets there in the end.”

Talking it over

A few things you could bring up afterwards, if your child wants to talk about the story:

  • The Tortoise isn’t fast, but he never stops. Anything we practise a little every day, like writing letters or riding a bike, gets there in the end.
  • The Hare doesn’t lose because he is slow. He loses because he looks down on his friend and on the race. Being good at something still takes effort.
  • When your child is stuck on something that is taking ages, the Tortoise is a handy reminder: no need to be fast, just don’t give up halfway.

One question for lights-out: Is there something you’d like to practise a little each day, one step at a time like the Tortoise?

Sources and how it was retold

Retold in fresh words by Trẻ học vui from the sources below; no modern translation was copied. The illustration was made with AI by Trẻ học vui for this story.

This keeps Jacobs’s main lines: the Hare’s challenge, the Tortoise accepting, the Hare saying he could dance round him, the Tortoise telling him to wait until he has won, and the Tortoise’s words at the end. The oak tree, the wooden post, the warm afternoon and the cheering animals are added details.

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