Once upon a time there was a very vain hare who spent all day bragging about how fast he could run.

Tired of always listening to her boasts, the turtle challenged her to compete in a race.

—How funny that you are a turtle, you must be joking—said the hare while laughing out loud.

“We’ll see, hare, save your words until after the race,” answered the tortoise.

The next day, the forest animals gathered to watch the race. They all wanted to see if the tortoise could actually beat the hare.

The bear started the race yelling:

-Ready, Steady, Go!

The hare immediately stepped forward, ran and ran faster than ever. Then he looked back and saw that the tortoise was only a few steps from the starting line.

“Slow and naive tortoise,” thought the hare. Why would he have wanted to compete, if he has no chance of winning?

Confident that he was going to win the race, the hare decided to stop in the middle of the road to rest under a tree. The cool and pleasant shade of the tree was very relaxing, so much so that the hare fell asleep.

Meanwhile, the tortoise continued to walk slowly, but without pause. She was determined not to give up. Soon, she found the hare sleeping peacefully. The tortoise was winning the race!

When the tortoise approached the goal, all the animals in the forest began to scream with excitement. The screams woke up the hare, who couldn’t believe her eyes: the tortoise was crossing the finish line and she had lost the race.