Life Lessons From Aesop’s Fable ‘The Tortoise and the Hare'

What are the morals in the story? What happened after the race? What and how can we benefit if we ask questions and consider things from other points.

Aesop’s Fable ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’

The fable: Once there lived a tortoise and a hare. They were good friends and often played together with their other friends, the fox, the deer and other animals. However, one day the hare teased the tortoise that he was always so slow. He challenged the tortoise to run a race with him. The other animals were delighted. They marked out the starting and finishing lines and acted as referees, cheer leaders etc. And so the race started. The hare ran very fast and soon he was near the finishing line. He looked back and saw that the tortoise was a long way behind and decided to take a nap. When he woke up, he saw that the tortoise had overtaken him. He dashed to the finishing line but alas the tortoise crossed the line before him.

The Morals

This is another beloved Aesop’s fable. This is arguably the most famous among all his fables. I love that there are life lessons for both the tortoise and the hare. Both animals learned important life lessons from the race. Each of us has a bit of the hare and the tortoise in us. Let us learn these lessons too.

Life Lessons for the Tortoise

For the tortoise, the moral is: ‘Slow and Steady wins the race’. This is encouragement to all of us who think that we are not too good at something. We must not underestimate ourselves. If we work hard and don’t give up, we will succeed.

Life Lessons for the Hare

For the hare, the moral is: ‘The race is not always won by the fastest’. This is to remind us not to be proud. We should not look down on others. It does not matter how good you are. The important thing is we need to accomplish or finish the task.

What Happened After the Race

At the end of the race, all the animals rushed to congratulate the tortoise. They praised the tortoise and laughed at the hare. And we were told that the tortoise, the hare and their friends learned many life lessons from the race that day. But all we know was what happened immediately after the race.

Did we misunderstand the Hare

As a child, I did not give much thought to this fable. I usually root for the unpopular. I would be concerned that perhaps they could have been misunderstood and maligned. Unlike the fox in the fable, ‘The fox and the grapes’, I felt little sympathy for the hare. Perhaps the reason is because I was born in the year of the tiger. I am definitely not a ‘bunny’ like my younger sister and 4 other cousins who are a year younger and were born in the year of the rabbit. However about ten years ago while learning the Chinese language, I realised that the poor hare could have been misunderstood.

Rest is so that we can go further

I found that a great way to learn the Chinese language is through songs. There is a song ‘Good Things’ 好的事情 by the singer Yan Jue. The first line of the song is: 休息是为了更长的路. The literal translation is “rest is because of a longer road”. It is actually a common saying in Chinese. But I have never heard it before. I found this saying very meaningful and I thought of the hare.

Giving the hare the benefit of doubt

We don’t really know what happened that day. Perhaps the hare decided that the length of the race was not challenging enough for him. He could have decided to challenge himself to a longer race. He no longer wanted to compete with the tortoise. The hare took a nap because he wanted to run a further distance. Let us give the hare the benefit of doubt that he decided to run his own race.

Competing with yourself

In life we are often forced to compete in many races. Sometimes we have the advantage. Many times we feel that we are at a disadvantage. A student once shared with me that he had already lost at the starting line. Due to an accident when he was very young, he suffered some disability. I encouraged him not to lose heart. My advice to him and to all my students is, “Don’t compete with others. Compete with yourself. Let the achievement of others be a form of encouragement. Your best is yet to be.” Even if he was not one of the top students in school, I would still be very proud of this student.

Life’s journey

Think of life as a journey. We will encounter many things and people during this journey. Along the way, many things are out of our control but we all have choices. One of the choices is whether to race or to take things leisurely at various sections. Whatever our decision, we will experience joy, sadness, pain, hope and more. The journey of life for some may be long. For some others it may be short. Whatever the length of the journey, it will come to an end. We will come to our life’s finishing line. Let’s get to this finishing line in our own unique way.