What is the moral of the tortoise and the hare story?

The Hare and Tortoise Story is one of Aesop’s greatest fables. This story illustrates that we can achieve our goals and overcome the obstacles we face with hard work, resilience, patience, tenacity, and a little motivation.

One of the key takeaways from the hare and tortoise story is the perseverance of the tortoise. We should not be like the overconfident hare but be like the tortoise who paced himself and became the unlikely winner.

Let us remind ourselves of the verses 1-2 from Hebrews Chapter 12, where we are told to run with perseverance or endurance the race set before us.

Life is a long-distance race, and we need to develop persistence if we want to succeed in our endeavors. We need to match our steps with Jesus and make sure our heartbeat is in tune with the heartbeat of God. Remember our Almighty Creator rewards the patient, the meek, those that believe and persevere.

Let us now read the Hare and Tortoise Story

Once upon a time, in a dense and primeval forest, there lived a speedy hare who kept bragging about how fast he could run. He was always teasing the slowest animals in the forest such as sloths, snails, and tortoises about their sluggish pace and how lazy they are. Most of the animals ignored the boasting of his running speed.

One afternoon, he came across a tortoise near a deep lake in the forest. He started mocking the tortoise and said to her, “Hurry up, you slowpoke. You are so laid back that your life has become so dull and monotonous. You will never see the beauty of the whole forest if you are taking so long to cover a few yards. I can run through the entire forest in a couple of hours.”

The tortoise was fed up with the hare’s bragging and decided to challenge him to a race. The hare started laughing as he thought the tortoise’s chances of winning the race were nil. However, he was glad to accept the challenge as he thought it was a great opportunity to put the tortoise to shame.

Word spread quickly around the forest, and all the animals gathered to watch the competition on race day. The hare and tortoise lined up at the starting line, waiting for the race to start. The hare started mocking the tortoise for accepting the challenge as she stood no chance against him and he was unbeatable.

The tortoise calmly replied, “You may be swift but know that even you can be beaten.” The hare got upset and started saying that after the race the tortoise would be scoffed, scorned, taunted, and jeered by other animals for accepting the dare.

The fox who was considered the wisest among animals was chosen as the referee for the race. After some time, the fox started the race, by calling, “Ready, Steady, Go!”

The hare was quick enough to start, but the tortoise started sluggishly and lumbered off the starting line.

After covering a long distance, the hare decided to look back to see if the tortoise was anywhere nearby. To his delight, the tortoise was nowhere to be seen. He decided to take some rest on the way before completing the race. He saw some carrots and leafy vegetables and decided to snack on them. He ate to his heart’s content and fell asleep under a tree. He dreamed of running past the finish line and winning the race.

Meanwhile, the tortoise who set off at a slow speed was just trundling along. However, she walked and walked, never stopping along the way.

The hare slept far longer than he had planned for. He had thought of having a nap but fell into a deep sleep that lasted for a few hours. Time passed, and the sun started setting down. He was suddenly woken up by the noise of cheering and clapping. Still fully not recovered from his sleep, he thought the animals were lauding him for the win as he saw in the dream. He looked around to see if the tortoise can be found anywhere.

Reality sank in as to his utter disbelief, he saw the tortoise just a few steps away from the finish line. He stretched and began to run faster than he had ever run in his life, but it was too late. The tortoise had crossed the finish line successfully and won the competition.

The animals who were watching this laughed hard at the hare for losing the race to the tortoise. He felt ashamed and sobbed in disgrace. The hare learned that bragging about something does not win you accolades, but rather it is perseverance that leads to success.

3 Lessons from the Hare and Tortoise Story

The first lesson from the hare and tortoise story is slow and steady wins the race. No matter how slow we are, we need to keep moving ahead steadily with complete dedication and determination to achieve our objectives. We should keep walking the path of life despite all the obstacles and stumbling blocks we come across. We should never give up, and persistence will help us be focused, humble, stay on track, and inspired.

The second lesson from the hare and tortoise story is that we should never be overconfident and haughty. Even if we are better than others in certain skill sets or adept at doing certain tasks we should not become conceited and think we are the best. Life will humble us and make us eat our own words. Things can change at the flick of a switch, and the best thing to do is living knowing that the only thing we know is that we do not know. Overconfidence will make us boasting, egoistic, and above all rude and disrespectful.

The third lesson from the hare and tortoise story is that we should never compare ourselves to others and complain about our situations. We may not be good at something. That is maybe because we may not want to do it. The tortoise was never afraid of the challenge though she knew the odds were heavily stacked against her. She never let her differences stop her from competing in the race. Though the hare was faster and was always ahead of her throughout the race, she never got discouraged and did not complain about the advantages the hare had.

The hare and tortoise story is relevant even today in this modern age. The hare and tortoise story is one of the most popular moral stories that is taught to children. The hare and tortoise story reiterates the fact that we can only achieve success by doing things slowly, honestly, sincerely, and steadily, while carelessness and haste result in failure.

Check our wide collection of Moral Storiesthat will inspire you and your children to do great things for the good of others. These stories for kids are motivating stories that will teach valuable lessons.