As a child, most of us have read and heard one the most popular fables of all time, the hare and the tortoise. This fable portrays the exciting race between the hare and the tortoise where the haughty hare decides to take a nap between the race; after leaving his opponent far behind and before completing the finish line; giving the slow but steadily paced tortoise a scope to win the race, while he snores to glory.
The moral of the story that we were taught - "Slow and steady wins the race". Sigh! A charming story that seemed ridiculous to my kindergartner brain because of the incorrect moral that was imparted. Every sane human knows that slowness is not the best approach to winning any race let alone marathon. Don't you remember how we had to fight that ticking clock to complete our exams on time? I often wonder why our kindergarten teachers had to stick to that moral while this fable had many more. It could have been
- 'Pride makes a fall'
- 'Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you could survive the odds beating you' or
- 'Complete what you begin'
which would have made this fable more sensible and less ridiculous to us, then kindergartners.
Comments
Good and insightful!!!