The Tortoise and the Hare

The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop. The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise. In response, the tortoise challenges his swift mocker to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise far behind and, confident of winning, he decides to take a nap midway through the course. When he awakes, however, he finds that his competitor, crawling slowly but steadily, has already won the race.

The moral, stated at the end of the fable, is, "Slow and steady wins the race."