45 THE RACE

One day a little hare was in a meadow.

A little tortoise was there, too.

He was creeping to the river for a swim.

“How slow you are! ”said the hare.

“You can not hop. You can only creep.

Look at me! See how fast I hop! ”

And the little hare gave a great hop.

“I am slow, ”said the tortoise.

“But I am sure.

Would you like to run a race with me? ”

“Run a race! ”cried the hare.

“How foolish that would be!

I hop and you creep.

How can we run a race? ”

“Let us try, ”said the tortoise.

“Let us race to the river.

We shall see who gets there first.”

“The river is a long way off, ”said the hare.

“But I shall soon be there. Good-bye! ”

Off went the little hare, hop! Hop! Hop!

Off went the tortoise, creep, creep, creep.

Soon the hare was nearly to the river.

It was a warm day.

“I will rest a little, ”he said.

So the hare rested and ate some leaves.

Then he felt sleepy.

“It is very warm, ”he said.

“I will sleep a little.

That foolish old tortoise is slow.

I shall wake up before he creeps here.

Then I can hop to the river.

I shall be there long before he comes.”

So the little hare went to sleep.

The little tortoise came creeping on.

He did not stop to eat.

He did not stop to sleep.

He went on and on, creep, creep, creep.

By and by he came to the river.

The little hare slept a long time.

Then he woke up with a jump.

“Dear me! I must hop along, ”he said.

“Where can that slow tortoise be? He is not here yet.”

The little hare hopped on to the river.

There was the little tortoise waiting for him!

“Creep and creep?

Beats hop and sleep! ”said the tortoise.

(Retold from a Fable by Æsop)

Word list

hare: a kind of animal similar to a rabbit

tortoise: a kind of animal similar to a turtle

hopped: jumped

You Practice

A) Answer the following questions.

1) Who are the main characters in this story?

2) Where do the tortoise and hare race?

3) Why does the hare lose the race?

4) What other animal is very similar to a hare?

5) What can we learn from this story?

B) What's the word? Using the clues, write the correct words from the story.

1) to move slowly: c _ _ _ _

2) tired: s _ _ _ _ _

3) not smart, stupid: f _ _ _ _ _ _

4) a large stream: r _ _ _ _

5) to move like a hare or rabbit: h _ _

C) Setting—The setting of a story is where it happens. Sometimes a story has many settings. This story has one setting at the beginning and a different setting at the end. Draw a picture of each of these settings.

1) Setting at the beginning of the story:

2) Setting at the end of the story: