Fred’s Fables: The Tortoise and the Hare by Fred Meyer

[Fred Meyer]

“The Tortoise and the Hare” will be part of a forthcoming Six Sixes of fables titled “Fred’s Fables.”

Fred’s Fables: The Tortoise and the Hare
by Fred Meyer

One warm summer day, a hare saw a tortoise walking slowly along, and the hare mocked the tortoise’s inadequacy and boasted about his own ability. The tortoise, influenced by a case of Slow Man’s Syndrome, hastily challenged the speedy hare to a race. The hare gleefully accepted, and all the animals in the forest gathered in excitement to watch.

The starting pistol fired, the hare got off the line with a flash, raced down the path, and quickly disappeared over the flower-covered hill!

The tortoise, however, plodded along for about sixty yards when, suddenly, out of the nearby forest, a half-starved wolf leaped out and attacked the tortoise—tearing it limb from limb and scattering tortoise parts and blood in all directions— then devoured every morsel of the tortoise’s succulent flesh, then lay down to relax full-bellied in the noonday sun.

MORAL: Sometimes slow and steady wins the race, but sometimes slow and steady gets picked off and devoured by the first predator that comes along!


If you liked this Six, be sure to check out my other writings:
http://sixsentences.ning.com/profile/FredMeyer

[Fred Meyer]

Edited the moral/last sentence.

[Trevor Mcpherson]

I was trying to get past a group of people on the sidewalk with Slow Man's syndrome. I felt very, very wolf-like.

[Kathleen Gabriel]

I have Slow Woman's Syndrome, so I may be able to advise you. Let me know, dude.

[John Wiswell]

A Holiday Inn Express, of course.

(Good story, Fred!)

[Fred Meyer]

Hey, yet another Six idea!

Overcoming Slow Man's Syndrome: A Self-Help Six for Tortoises

[MartiW]

Yeah. What Daniel said.

(hey, you know you might be able to get a side gig going with a self-help book about Living with Slow Man Syndrome, having done first hand research with the late Tortoise.

[Fred Meyer]

Possibly true, but if a half-starved and motivated wolf can bite down with enough force to destroy the shell, then where does the tortoise go to ride out the attack?

[Daniel]

Slow and steady doesn't have to mean stupid. You can be slow and steady and smart and when the wolf comes, and you know he will, you simply suck it in and ride it out.

[Fred Meyer]

Yes, I had this kind of thing in mind when I revised the original Aesop's fable. The world is filled with predators that are seeking to feed on the weak, slow, ignorant, etc. Slow and steady doesn't cut it in all situations.

[Kim]

hmmm a good metaphor for some of the stuff that is happening in the current GFC (Global Financial Crisis)...