Paul Dobsinsky
The Goat and the Hedgehog
A famous story for children from Pavol Dobšinský’s collection. It is about a goat that scares away many, even strong and fearless animals, but in the end a small brave one finds a way to deal with her.
Going slower you can often get farther.
The hare often mocked the tortoise for being so slow. One day, she suggested holding a race. Simply the comical idea of It made the hare roll on the ground laughing. How did the race end?
A tortoise and a hare were neighbours. Not a day would pass without the hare bragging about how fast he could run. And to make matters worse, he would always mock the tortoise for being soooo slow.
“You must be the slowest animal in the world!” he would say to her. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to run or move at speed?”
But the tortoise didn’t care. She was happy walking at her own pace.
One day, when the two of them bumped into one another yet again, the hare immediately started poking fun at the tortoise, as usual. Finally, she ran out of patience, thrust her long neck out of her shell, and said: “Fine. Let’s race. Then we’ll see if you can actually run faster than me.”
The hare was so amused by this proposal that he fell down laughing. He laughed so hard he cried, rolling round on the ground. When he finally calmed down, he said, “What a joke. You? In a race? You’d really dare to race against such a great runner as me?” The tortoise calmly nodded. Then the hare said, “OK, as you wish! Let’s do just that. We’ll organise a race.”
The rumours about the race spread quickly throughout the forest. When the day finally arrived, all the animals gathered to watch the event. No one wanted to miss it!
The racetrack was set up, complete with a start and finish line. A referee was also assigned. Once everything was in place, the referee fired the starting pistol, and the race began!
The hare dashed off at lightning speed, leaving the tortoise coughing in his dust. As he approached the finish line, he thought about how to show-off even more. The hare decided to wait for…