A long time ago, when humans didn’t exist and everything was filled with beauty, two animals were arguing about who the fastest animal was. They were the tortoise and the hare. Everyone in the forest was staring at them. Then, all at once, an elephant stopped them. He said, “Stop! Stop! If you want to know who the fastest is, you two should have a race!” Everyone whispered, “That’s a good idea!” Therefore, the next day, the race started.

The adjudicators were the owl, the wisest, the cheetah, the fastest and the monkey, the smartest. The hare proudly boasted, “You’ll never beat me, Stupid Tortoise!” Then, he gave the tortoise a smug smile. The tortoise’s feelings were hurt.

“Let the race begin!” the cat’s voice boomed into the loudspeaker. They ran! The hare ran faster than the tortoise at first and took the lead. Then, he realized that he needed to cross a river to get to the finishing line. He panicked because he didn’t know how to swim. He was very worried that the tortoise would beat him to the finishing line. Meanwhile, the tortoise wondered if the hare already crossed the finishing line. He was a bit upset but he still said, “Never mind! It is just a race, anyway.”

The hare tried to make a bridge by throwing stones into the river but the tortoise was already catching up. “Need any help?” asked the tortoise. The hare stammered, “But I’ve been making fun of you. Why do you still want to help me?” “They say teamwork is more important,” the tortoise said. “Climb onto my back,” the tortoise told the hare. The hare then thanked him and climbed onto the tortoise’s back.

Once they got to the shore, the hare jumped off and crossed the finishing line. The adjudicators gave the hare a flower wreath and a shiny gold medal. He thanked the adjudicators first and then gave the tortoise all the prizes. The tortoise asked, “Why do you do this?” The hare replied, “If you didn’t let me jump onto your back, I wouldn’t win this race.”

In the end, both of them realized that their teamwork saved the day.