LessonsFromDad
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Many were told this story as kids, the tortoise and the hare decided to race to see who was faster, the tortoise won the race because he was slow and steady and the rabbit lost because even though he was fast, he was over confident and wasted time and the Tortoise ended up beating him in the end.
YAY FOR TORTOISE!
However, this is not the 1915 version by Lord Dunsay.
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TLDR of the below story;
Tortoise wins, but when there is a forest fire the forest burns down because they sent the tortoise to warn the other animals.
***
Full story below:
_______________
THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE
For a long time there was doubt with acrimony among the beasts as
to whether the Hare or the Tortoise could run the swifter. Some said
the Hare was the swifter of the two because he had such long ears,
and others said the Tortoise was the swifter because anyone whose
shell was so hard as that should be able to run hard too. And lo, the
forces of estrangement and disorder perpetually postponed a decisive
contest.
But when there was nearly war among the beasts, at last an
arrangement was come to and it was decided that the Hare and the
Tortoise should run a race of five hundred yards so that all should
see who was right.
"Ridiculous nonsense!" said the Hare, and it was all his backers could
do to get him to run.
"The contest is most welcome to me," said the Tortoise, "I shall not
shirk it."
O, how his backers cheered.
Feeling ran high on the day of the race; the goose rushed at the fox
and nearly pecked him. Both sides spoke loudly of the approaching
victory up to the very moment of the race.
"I am absolutely confident of success," said the Tortoise. But
the Hare said nothing, he looked bored and cross. Some of his
supporters deserted him then and went to the other side, who were
loudly cheering the Tortoise's inspiriting words. But many remained
with the Hare. "We shall not be disappointed in him," they said. "A
beast with such long ears is bound to win."
"Run hard," said the supporters of the Tortoise.
And "run hard" became a kind of catch-phrase which everybody
repeated to one another. "Hard shell and hard living. That's what
the country wants. Run hard," they said. And these words were
never uttered but multitudes cheered from their hearts.
Then they were off, and suddenly there was a hush.
The Hare dashed off for about a hundred yards, then he looked
round to see where his rival was.
"It is rather absurd," he said, "to race with a Tortoise." And he sat
down and scratched himself. "Run hard! Run hard!" shouted some.
"Let him rest," shouted others. And "let him rest" became a
catch-phrase too.
And after a while his rival drew near to him.
"There comes that damned Tortoise," said the Hare, and he got up
and ran as hard as could be so that he should not let the Tortoise
beat him.
"Those ears will win," said his friends. "Those ears will win; and
establish upon an incontestable footing the truth of what we have
said." And some of them turned to the backers of the Tortoise and
said: "What about your beast now?"
"Run hard," they replied. "Run hard."
The Hare ran on for nearly three hundred yards, nearly in fact as far
as the winning-post, when it suddenly struck him what a fool he looked
running races with a Tortoise who was nowhere in sight, and he sat
down again and scratched.
"Run hard. Run hard," said the crowd, and "Let him rest."
"Whatever is the use of it?" said the Hare, and this time he stopped
for good. Some say he slept.
There was desperate excitement for an hour or two, and then the
Tortoise won.
"Run hard. Run hard," shouted his backers. "Hard shell and hard
living: that's what has done it." And then they asked the Tortoise what
his achievement signified, and he went and asked the Turtle. And the
Turtle said, "It is a glorious victory for the forces of swiftness." And
then the Tortoise repeated it to his friends. And all the beasts said
nothing else for years. And even to this day, "a glorious victory for
the forces of swiftness" is a catch-phrase in the house of the snail.
And the reason that this version of the race is not widely known is
that very few of those that witnessed it survived the great forest-fire
that happened shortly after. It came up over the weald by night with
a great wind. The Hare and the Tortoise and a very few of the beasts
saw it far off from a high bare hill that was at the edge of the trees, and
they hurriedly called a meeting to decide what messenger they should
send to warn the beasts in the forest.
They sent the Tortoise.
______________
"Lord Dunsany, ''51 Tales''"
https://www.fulltextarchive.com/page/Fifty-One-Tales/#p270
Talent with idleness is just as useless as no talent with dishonest self evaluation and pride.
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Be honest with yourself and others on your strengths and weaknesses, play up your strengths, let others take the spotlight with your weaknesses.
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This has been your Lesson from Dad,
much love.
polkjameskpolk
In the Bugs Bunny version, the tortoise wins because he and his cousins CHEAT.
fortfantastic
As @HughJackmansass says, that's aesop fanfiction. the actual fable is from ancient greece.
XenuPintrestWarrior
+1 believe it or not, I needed to be reminded of this today. Thanks!
relpmeraggy
JustLetMeInNowPlzKthx
Sounds like it's a metaphor for political parties and their rabid, cool-aid-drinking, supporters.
Turborasher
This is post Aesop, who wrote the original fable. Also, pronounce it E-Sop ;)
GnarlElTrim
Run Forrest animals, run!
Tranced42
Sup im talent with idleness
LessonsFromDad
Hi talent with idleness, I'm dad
TheStargateIsReal
“Lock her up!” And this became a catch-phrase too.
Every1friend
slow and steady makes more sense to me considering the race was the hare's strength and the tortoise beat him.
tehsquee
Wasnt the tortoise awarded the position of fire Marshall or something and everyone died because forest fire?
mormacil
uncletouchysbasement
wItH eNoUgH tRaInInG...
LessonsFromDad
JorgeLourenco
It’s also a great story about the stupidity of political factions. People cheer the wrong things for all the wrong reasons.
88wut
It’s a lesson about gambling. The hare bet against himself.
DriverIRQnotlessOrEqual
This was why the nightmare fuel that was Watership Down was a mandatory watch
DigiT00l
I love the book as well, there is a real sense of eldritch horror to some scenes that couldn't be captured in animation
TheRockDude
i haven't seen it, but i read the book back in middle school. don't remember much except that there was a lot of dying
feeltheice
Omg so much death!
forkani
And don't let dumb ppl run the forest?
hardytardigrade
"The contest is most welcome to me," said the Tortoise, "I shall not shirk it." (1915 shit talking)
JMaxGarage
TL;DR but yes in the end all the animals die in a fire cause the tortoise was slow as fuck
Malcomsex
I thought it was don’t take a nap in the middle of a fucking race
TheRockDude
sounds pretty political
nevergoingtogiveyouupnevergoingtoletyoudown
I thought it was about the consequences of procrastination.
nevergoingtogiveyouupnevergoingtoletyoudown
Where the tortoise represents the deadline.
Nenstuff
I was always taught it was a story about small sample sizes and anomalous results.
SquirtleSquad420
Is it? https://youtu.be/m7NuVjpi72c
VodkaReindeer
Was your favorite game as a child R?
Nenstuff
No?
confirmedbunburyist
Hahahaha.
ThrowPETAtoTheVeganLions
Even the guy that wrote R hates R
CosmoTripper
Gump.
LessonsFromDad
dmjalund
What’s with big ears=fast? Was there a politician at the time known for his ears?
LessonsFromDad
It's exactly because it's pointless. Also, no colleges in the forest last I heard.
WardSharlow
People assign some kind of virtuousness to the traits that their guy has but does not share with the other guy.
iamnid
Why so many R's in Forest?
LessonsFromDad
I like to roll them
LessonsFromDad
Rrrrolll them*
LessonsFromDad
BadBunnyLadyOfRocksTreesAndDirt
Bring back teaching kids the real fables that don't sugarcoat or shy away from death. Give em something to chew on, philosophy for kids.
[deleted]
[deleted]
Kallistonia
inorite?
Qualtagh
"Real fables"? Fables are things that evolve with each retelling. To declare one version definitive would be to kill all future growth.
InTheShado
So the thing to decide is whether the fables have evolved or devolved. Probably some of both
IWishAussieAnimalsWereMoreCuddly
I know right? In our attempt to shield kids from a more harsh reality, we’ve removed important lessons from these fables
Easykehl
No one watered down/sugarcoated the fable from 600BC; a guy from 1915 just punched it up a little bit and made it edgy.
Easykehl
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare
isaypoopythingabecausemostofyouannoyme
Someone just pointed out Little Mermaids feet actually felt like walking on knives, prince picked another woman, mermaid kills her self
DigiT00l
Well yeah, that's why it's a gay allegory
darthlawsuit
It wasn't' written in Women were not men back then.
JMaxGarage
Exactly. Not everyone is a winner and some of us will have to work hard to live comfortably. Life is unfair.
NotTheSharpestSpoonInTheDrawer
Life is unfair, the rabbit lost and it's nobodys fault but his own.
JMaxGarage
Not really. It’s everybody’s fault. Nobody had the common sense to point to the fact that even if the trtl won the hare was faster
ToastDNA
DEATH TO DISNEY! Get the pitchforks and torches!
DigiT00l
Fun fact: the Grimm versions are already cleansed versions of the story, but they are the first properly recorded versions
chaotropicagent
Dunsany was post-Aesop...
BecauseBenjamin
This. Dunsany is one version with its own viewpoint, but it's not the original story. Dunsany basically wrote Aesop fanfiction.
LessonsFromDad
What was aesops lesson?
YeahButIThinkIAteIt
Very, very, very post-Aesop. Aesop was born 621 BC. Dunsany was born July 24, 1878.
Doodlerooo
Post is post, doesn’t matter the distance between as long as we have the words of both. Besides, they both dead now. Lol
bulgarianBarbarian
This. I see posts like this all the time and don't understand why we consider an 1800's version of tortoise and hare the CORRECT one. 1/2
bulgarianBarbarian
It may be interesting but Dunsany's is basically fanfic. To say it's the true meaning is pretty misleading. 2/2
notaballoon
People love the made up "not wat u thogt" shit. Like that "blood is thicker than water" post that's total horseshit.
notaballoon
Of note, also based on ramblings of mentally ill victorians, like this one.
LessonsFromDad
U mean the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb?