Once upon a time, in a forest far, far away, there was a great race every year. It happened on the first day of spring, when the new year’s blossoms were just beginning to wake up from their winter snooze, and when the sun was finally thawing out the frozen land. Every year, the fastest animals would all get together and challenge each other to a friendly race. The winner was the one who would get the first apple of the new year when it finally grew, and that was a grand prize, for the first apple of the year was always the sweetest, and they all said that it had good luck.

Every year, everyone always had the chance to join the race if they wanted to. Some animals would join, and others would stay home. Others would watch the race and cheer for their favorites. And every year, no matter who joined the race, Hubert Hare would always win. Hubert was a very fast hare, and he could run faster than anyone in the forest. He knew this, so he would always challenge everyone to beat him. But, because everyone knew that Hubert would win, fewer and fewer animals wanted to try.

One year, when everyone was preparing for spring, Olivia Owl was very busy gathering up the names of everyone that would be participating. She asked every animal if they wanted to race in the spring race, but every single animal said no! No one wanted to race against Hubert because they all knew that he would win, and he was a very sore winner. He would laugh at the losers. He would tell them that they are the worst runners ever, and he would hurt the feelings of everyone involved.

On that year, Olivia Owl talked to Barry the Bear and told him that she did not think that there would be a race. “You know,” said Olivia. “No one wants to race Hubert because he brags too much! They all say that it is no fun and that they do not want to! They would rather spend their day doing something better!”

“If only someone could race better than Hubert!” said Barry. He sighed. But, Barry and Olivia both knew that no one was faster than Hubert and that no one would ever be able to beat such a quick hare, no matter who they were! Hubert was undefeated!

“I can race,” said a slow, old voice. He sounded very slow and very shaky.

Olivia and Barry both turned around, and there, they saw Tommy the Tortoise! He was moving very, very slowly toward them. Both Olivia and Barry had to try very hard not to laugh. A tortoise against a hare? There would be no chance that Tommy could win at all! Everyone knew that tortoises were very slow and that they would never be able to run faster than a hare!

“If no one else is going to race, I will!” Tommy said, very slowly. “I do not want all of the spring fun to be ended because no one wanted to try! I am not afraid of losing.”

“If you say so,” said Barry and Olivia hooted in agreement. But, they needed someone for Hubert to race against, so they had no choice. They would have to let Tommy race, too!

On the days leading up to the race, the word got out very far. There was lots of talk about how a tortoise was going to race against the fastest animal that the forest had ever seen and everyone thought that was very funny. They did not believe that he would be able to win! But, they were willing to watch and see what happened. After all, anything was possible.

The day before the big race, Hubert came up to Tommy. Hubert looked at the old tortoise and laughed. He was very glad to see that the tortoise looked as old as he had sounded! “So, big guy, you think that you can beat me, huh?” asked Hubert. Hubert ran circles around Tommy as fast as he could. “Do you really think you’re faster than me? Look! I can literally run circles around you!” And Hubert was. Hubert could run a circle around Tommy before he could even move his feet quickly enough for just one step. “You’re going down!”

But, Tommy did not care. Tommy just smiled at Hubert and kept on going along without a care in the world. You see, Tommy was too old to care about winning or losing. He was too old to think that only the fastest would win. He knew a very important secret and he w’as sure that his very important secret would be enough for him to figure out how to beat Hubert. And, even if he did lose, he was okay with that, too, for he was not a sore loser.

On the day of the big race, animals came from far and wide to watch. They heard that there was going to be a hare racing a tortoise and they all thought that it sounded so absurd that they had to go and see it. So, just before the race began, there was a lineup of animals as far as the eye could see. They were all lined up along the race path, and they where very interested to see what kind of tortoise would challenge a hare to a race.

Slowly but surely, Tommy meandered to the starting line. The entire time he was making his way there, Hubert was behind him, laughing at him. “Good luck, slowpoke!” Hubert would say with a mean voice. “Don’t worry! I’ll leave you some pieces of apple seeds!” he announced. “I hope you’re ready to eat my dust!

But, Tommy did not care. Tommy did not mind that Hubert was saying all of those mean things because Tommy was taught that words only have power if he thinks that they have power, so he did not listen to Hubert. He knew that mean words were not nice to say.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” cried Olivia, hooting as loudly as she could for all to hear. “I hope you’re ready for a good race! Remember, this is a good, clean, fair race! No kicking or hitting or underhanded tricks! Just running and racing!”

So, Tommy and Hubert stood at the finish line.

“On your marks!” They were ready to go. Hubert was jumping from foot to foot impatiently. “Get set!” Hubert was ready to kick off to run. “Go!” And as soon as Olivia hooted, off Hubert ran!

Before Tommy could even lift his foot off of the ground, Hubert was off! He ran very quickly and reached the finish line in record time! But, he was not ready to win, yet! So, he turned around and returned back to the tortoise. “You know,” said Hubert, “I knew that I would win, but I didn’t know that I’d win before you could get in three steps!” Hubert thought he was hilarious, and he rolled around on the ground, laughing.

Tommy did not listen to Hubert at all. He ignored the hare and smiled as he walked along, humming his own song and not reacting at all. So, Hubert came up with his own game. He decided that he would run to just before the finish line and then go all the way back to Tommy. He wanted to know how many times over he could have beaten Tommy on his own. He was interested in seeing just how quick he could go. So, he went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. After twenty times, Tommy was not even halfway done with the race yet! So, this continued for most of the afternoon. Tommy would slowly but steadily walk toward the finish line, step by step getting closer, and Hubert would run back and forth.

Soon, Hubert started to feel very sleepy. He was breathing big, deep breaths because he was running so much. He had an idea. If Tommy was as slow as he was, he could just take a nap! So, Hubert ran all the way back to Tommy one more time. “You know,” said Hubert. “You are so slow that I can take a nap and I’ll still beat you!”

Tommy smiled back at Hubert. He did not mind at all. “Good night,” he said politely as he continued to slowly walk away. And sure enough, Hubert walked over to a pile of nice, comfy grass, and curled up. Before Tommy had moved even a few more feet, Hubert was asleep!

Tommy kept on going, and soon, long after Hubert had stopped for a nap, Tommy realized that he could see the finish line! He kept going, step by step, and even though the crowds could see that the tortoise was about to win, no one wanted to cheer, for they did not want to wake up the hare. So, they watched very, very closely and very, very quietly.