The tortoise and the hare

There was once a hare who was always boasting of his speed. There is no one in the forest who can run as fast as I can, he told everyone, strutting up and down. Who wants to race me. The other animals were tired of hearing his boasting, but no one ever offered to race him until one day the turtle spoke up. I will race with you, he said in his slow way. The hare burst out laughing, and all the animals looked surprised, for everyone knew the turtle was the slowest of them all. Oho, chuckled the hare. That is a good joke. 

Why, I can beat you without half trying. Wait until you have won before you start to boast, said the turtle. 

So the race course was laid out, and all the animals gathered to see the start. The hare bounded off in  a great burst of speed that left the poor turtle far behind in the dust. Soon the hare looked back. Finding that he could not even see the turtle coming any more , he lay down in the shade of a big tree beside the road to wait a bit, just to make the finish of the race more exciting. 

But waiting made the hare sleepy, and he decided to snatch just a two-minute nap. The two minutes stretched on and on and still the hare slept in the shade of the big tree. All this time the turtle was plodding along the hot, dusty road. He came ever so slowly, but he kept right at it, and soon he passed the hare sleeping by the roadside. The turtle crawled past without making a sound to wake  the careless hare. 

When the hare finally woke up with a start, the line, far ahead, while all the animals stood by cheering. The hare had lost the race by being careless and cocky he could never boast again, and all the animals were glad of that.