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The Tortoise and the Hare

by Aesop

A tortoise and a hare race in a classic fable told in simple words.

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Original language: EnglishLevel: Beginner798 characters · ≈ 1 minSource: 伊索寓言

Opening lines

The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me."

The Tortoise said quietly, "I accept your challenge."

"That is a good joke," said the Hare; "I could dance round you all the way."

"Keep your boasting till you've beaten me," answered the Tortoise. "Shall we race?"

So a course was fixed and a start was made. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap. The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning…

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About the book

"The Tortoise and the Hare" is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 226 in the Perry Index. It tells of a race between unequal partners, and this account has drawn conflicting interpretations. The fable is a variant of a common folktale theme in which ingenuity and trickery, rather than doggedness, are employed to overcome a stronger opponent.

About the author

Aesop (c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with the fables collectively known as Aesop's Fables. His existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, but numerous tales attributed to him, many featuring anthropomorphic animal characters, have been gathered over the centuries in a storytelling tradition that continues today.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: The Tortoise and the Hare (CC BY-SA)

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

FAQ

Is this the original text?

Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from 伊索寓言.

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What level is it?

This one is marked “Beginner”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.

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