Frazz by Jef Mallett for December 03, 2022

If one’s objective is to get to the finish line, and if one reaches that goal, he/she has won regardless of place. The pace of life is unique to every individual. Just because one does better than another, doesn’t make the rest of us less.

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Of course (then again) Aesop’s Fable here had only two runners – two “strategies” – with outcomes to simply “prove” a particular point. Just like in real life, if he had (added) more runners (more choices), it becomes difficult (almost impossible) to clearly show that point.

Never let advertising expenses kill your profits.

My kids’ chess instructor would say “the person who makes the next-to-last mistake, wins.”

They would say ( in the gold rush days ) thet the first one in made money , the second one in broke even and the last one in went broke : (

You don’t need to outrun the bear, just the other runner!

This fable was all about arrogance, pride, and lack of focus versus steady progress and determination. Turtle knew he wasn’t fast, but he never lost sight of his goal—reach the finish line. Rabbit was proud, vain and over-confident and he lost focus on the goal. He could have won, he was near the goal, but he decided to take a nap instead because he was convinced he couldn’t lose. Vanity tripped him up.

OK, but that “who doesn’t screw up” is doing a lot of work, here.

Aesop understood talented people who don’t apply themselves.

Neither of these guys get it, imo.

I don’t think that “fabulous”, in this context, means what you think it means.

After the Big RaceA sequel to The Tortoise and the Hare(by David Bump)

You may have heard the story of the race between a tortoise and a hare, in whichthe tortoise wins the race by steady plodding, while the overconfident haregoofed off and lost the race.

The moral of the story is “Slow and steady wins the race,” but it might better besaid: “Goofing off loses the race.” That’s the lesson the hare learned.

To prove that it had learned this lesson, the hare challenged the tortoise toanother race. The hare even let the tortoise choose the course they would run. Infact, they made a habit of racing every day after that, and every day the hare wonand the tortoise lost.

Finally, the hare asked the tortoise if it wanted to give up and stop racing.“Nope,” said the tortoise, “I’d like to keep on racing, if you don’t mind.” Thehare loved winning, so it raced ahead and won again.

It ran off to have a snack, but came back later to meet the tortoise at the finishline, and ask it why it kept racing when it lost every time. “Oh, lots of reasons,”said the tortoise, “Just look at the scoreboard.” “The one that shows you onlywon once?” replied the hare. The tortoise nodded and said “It also shows ourbest times. I may be slower than you, but I’ve raced you so much I’ve set theworld record for tortoises!” The hare said “Oh,” and hopped away to think aboutthat.

The next day, after winning the race again, the hare waited for the tortoise andasked for another reason it kept racing even though it lost all the time. Thetortoise said, “See this meadow? Since you let me decide where to race, I put thefinish line here where the best berry bushes grow. Slow and steady may notalways win the race, but it gets me where I want to go.” “Oh,” said the hare, andit joined the tortoise for lunch while it thought

The next day, before the race, the tortoise told the hare it would show anotherreason it kept racing, if the hare would stay close. So the hare hopped slowlyalong, just ahead of the tortoise, but the tortoise didn’t say anything. The haresoon got bored and looked for something to talk about. “Pretty flowers here,” itcommented, but the tortoise just smiled and nodded and kept plodding along.“Nice view from up here,” the hare called back as it reached the hilltop, but thetortoise just smiled and kept plodding along. “I just love the sound of a babblingbrook, don’t you?” the hare asked as it crossed the bridge. The tortoise justsmiled and plodded along.

The hare was just about to cross the finish line when it suddenly stopped andflopped down on its back, laughing. “I just got it!” the hare chuckled as thetortoise came up, “you were just helping me to see another reason you like torace even though you’re slow – it’s a pleasant trip when you have the time tonotice things.” “That’s right,” said the tortoise as the hare stretched out and gotcomfortable, “just as I said, there are lots of reasons to keep racing even though Idon’t win.”

“I get lots of exercise, I plod faster than I used to, I get where I want to go, Ismell pretty flowers and see beautiful scenery and hear lovely sounds . . . " Thehare’s eyes had closed and it was making snoring noises. “And-if-I-keep-trying-I-might-win-again” said the tortoise as it scooted the last bit to the finish line.

The hare jumped up and laughed again. The tortoise looked back and said, “Aw,you let me win!” “Well,” said the hare, “let’s just say I was busy thinking ofanother reason to keep racing.” “What reason?” asked the tortoise as they headedfor the berry bushes together. “Because,” said the hare, “it will always remind usof how we became friends.”

“The End”

Thank you, Jef. That has been a complaint of mine on so many re-tellings and adaptations of that fable. Slow and steady doesn’t win the race against fast and steady.

Aesop’s story was not actually about slower, more deliberate action so much as it was about the dangers of arrogance.