The Tortoise, the Hare and the Penguin

By Tom Keating • Illustrated by Linda Weller

One warm afternoon, a tortoise, a hare, and a penguin sat on the sandy beach of Dassen Island. On the other side of the island stood a lighthouse.

“Let’s have a race to the lighthouse,” said the hare.

“Sounds like fun!” brayed the penguin.

“A tortoise, a hare, and a penguin—it’s almost like the race in that famous story by Aesop,” declared the tortoise.

At the count of “One, two, three, GO!” the hare bounded ahead. The penguin walked as fast as she could, and the tortoise crept slowly but steadily. Soon they came to a large pond. Neither the hare nor the tortoise had any idea how to get across the water, and going around the pond would take them far out of their way.

The penguin decided to help her friends. She told the tortoise to latch onto her stubby tail so he would not sink. The hare climbed onto the floating shell of the tortoise. The penguin paddled across the pond with her head straight up like a duck’s.

After crossing the water, all three animals looked gratefully at one another. Then they set off again toward the distant lighthouse.

Soon the tortoise, the hare, and the penguin came to a wall. The tortoise could not imagine how he would get over. Even the penguin was too short to hop over the wall. But the hare got up on her hind legs and stretched her full length so that she made an animal ramp. The penguin and tortoise climbed carefully up her back to the top of the wall.

Then the hare hopped to the upper ledge and bounded down to the ground on the other side. She propped herself against the wall like a sliding board, and the tortoise and penguin skidded right down.

All three animals shook one another’s paws, wished one another well, and started off again toward the lighthouse.

Before long they came to a dense thicket of bushes and thorny vines. The penguin and the hare could not even walk sideways without being caught by the prickly shrubs.

So the tortoise began to snap at the vines with his strong jaws. Soon he had pruned a narrow path through the thorny thicket. Then he moved backward so that his hard-shelled back spread the branches even more. The hare and the penguin walked behind the tortoise as if they were following a miniature tractor.

When they finally reached the other side of the thicket, the tortoise, the hare, and the penguin hugged one another. Then they began walking toward the lighthouse side by side.

They came to the end of the race together, each waiting for the other animal to cross the finish line.

“After you,” said the hare.

“You first,” offered the tortoise.

“Be my guest,” urged the penguin.

They all reached the goal together. Each understood that it isn’t always the fastest or even the slow and steady who wins the race. By helping one another, all three were winners.