The Tortoise and the Hare or The Hare and the Tortoise is a fable attributed to Aesop. The story concerns a hare who one day ridiculed a slow-moving tortoise. In response, the tortoise challenged his swift mocker to a race. The hare soon left the tortoise far behind and, confident of winning, he decided to take a nap midway through the course. When he awoke, however, he found that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, had already won the race! The moral is stated at the end of the fable as:

Slow and steady wins the race (this is not technically true. Had the hare not fallen alseep, he surely would have run the race. Logic shows that in an actual race that the fastest people always win).

The fable was adapted into a Silly Symphonies animated short subject of the same name by Walt Disney Productions in 1935 (although IMDb states it was released in 1934, the official book Disney A to Z by Dave Smith states it was released on January 5, 1935). The hare was named Max Hare and the tortoise was named Toby Tortoise. In 1936, Max Hare and Toby Tortoise appeared in another Silly Symphonies cartoon called Toby Tortoise Returns, in which Max and Toby are engaged in another match as fighters in a boxing ring. It also served as the inspiration for three Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodies cartoons co-starring Cecil Turtle. Archie Comics also turned the character of the tortoise into a Sonic the Hedgehog character named Tommy Turtle.

The Tortoise and the Hare also make a cameo among the non-human Fables in the Fables comic book. An animated adaption will be made and completed in 2008.

See also:

• Aesop's Fables

External links

• Film: The Hare and the Tortoise (bottom of list)

• Dueling Metaphors: The Tortoise and the Hare

• The Tortoise and the Hare used in modern collection of stories/parables

Fables | 1934 films | Disney animated shorts, 1930s | Best Short Film Academy Award winners

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