You win some, you lose some. Aesop was an equal opportunity storyteller and the tortoise of fables sometimes gets a raw deal. But not this particular tortoise. Sometimes it’s “The Hare and the Tortoise”, sometimes it’s “The Tortoise and the Hare”. This tortoise just goes about his business and wins the day. I’ve never once heard him complain that he hasn’t been billed first in the title. Show
How do picture book storytellers expand this well-known fable to flesh out a 32 page story? And how are the tropes in this particular fable replicated across popular story for all ages? THE FABLE OF THE HARE AND THE TORTOISEBy Walter Crane (1845-1915) ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ Baby’s Own Aesop’s Fables, 1887
The hare is an unwitting trickster archetype. Sometimes one character underestimates another character by judging them by the way they look. The revenge of the underestimated character is hugely successful with audiences and readers. One example is Mickey Donovan, the most empathetic gangster from prestige TV. In the Season Four episode “Chinese Algebra” (2016), Mickey turns up to a rich young guy’s house to ask him a favour. The young guy greets Mickey as “the nearly departed”, then refuses to grant Mickey the favour. So in a Hare and Tortoise-esque plot, Mickey offers to play a game of ping pong. If he wins, he gets the favour. If he loses, the bet is still in the young guy’s favour. Because we are all primed on stories with this plot, you know already that Mickey is going to win the game. I said, “I bet it turns out Mickey was a champion ping pong player in prison”. (I’ve seen a lot of prison shows with ping pong tables. I’ve also seen a lot of fictional psychiatric wards with ping pong tables, but there are no ping pong tables in psychiatric wards, ftr. You don’t even get picture frames in psychiatric wards.) By the way, I was right. Mickey Donovan wins ping pongMickey Donovan is underestimated because of his age. This plot plays right across all seasons. He is even diagnosed with dementia (falsely) to escape criminal charges. In many other stories, especially those for kids, characters are underestimated because they are girls in a boys’ arena, or they are ‘wimpy’ boys in a manly arena. SETTING OF “THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE”
STORY STRUCTURE OF “THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE”PARATEXTI’m looking at a Little Golden Books edition published 1984. The story is retold by by Margo Lundell and illustrated by John Abbott Nez. The animals of Aesop are male by default but, by 1984, children’s storytellers were starting to make attempts at gender diversity. (Little Golden Books of the 20th century were two thirds male characters, according to a study by Janice McCabe.) The tortoise in this retelling is clearly a girl. SHORTCOMINGNotice how the hare remains male and the tortoise is now female? This is in line with how femininity is seen as a disadvantage in itself. Though it’s left off the page, I’ve no doubt the hare underestimates the girl in a race partly because she’s a tortoise and… well… partly because she’s a girl. To answer the question: How does this writer expand the story to fit 32 pages of picturebook, Margo Lundell expanded the opening sequence into a series of scenes in which the hare shows off about how great he is. These scenes are presented as iterative:
Now the story switches to singulative:
A few more scenes show the reader that the boastful hare is the designated Hate Sink. DESIREOn the surface, the hare wants to be the best at everything, culminating in winning a speed race. Hares can run at 70 km/h (43 mph) and when confronted by predators they rely on outrunning them in the open. Speed is literally the hare’s greatest asset. Under the surface, he clearly has confidence issues. But the young reader is not encouraged to consider this aspect of the hare’s background, the ghost you’ll often find expanded upon in stories for older readers. OPPONENTThe hare and the tortoise are each other’s opposition. PLANThe hare plans to win the race. That’s it. So does the tortoise. There’s no trickster work involved here, other than the ‘trick’ of tortoises being faster than they appear, or rather, the cognitive bias that affects us all: if something runs at high speed, we assume they are faster overall, in every situation. THE BIG STRUGGLEThe hare is about to win, but full of false bravado, he takes a rest before the finish line and accidentally falls asleep. The tortoise wins. ANAGNORISISThe tortoise knew all along that she would win. She has no character arc. Does the tortoise learn anything? Doesn’t matter. The point of a fable is to teach the audience something. NEW SITUATIONIn my Little Golden Book version, the hare is a surprisingly gracious loser. I believe this is to teach the young reader how to lose. (It does seem a bit out of character, though. I bet he chucked a paddy.) EXTRAPOLATED ENDINGIn an Aesop fable, the moral is often spelt out. The message spelled out in the Little Golden Book version, the storytellers have used the archetype of the wise owl to embody the moralistic voice:
RESONANCEThis fable must have been told and retold by a people who had taken much notice of animal behaviour. Modern research bears out the result:
Adults appreciate the message in this fable as it applies to kids, a proportion of which will rush through a task in order to be first. TORTOISES FROM OTHER STORIESThe Tortoise and the DucksTHE ÆSOP FOR CHILDREN. 1919 Milo WinterIn contrast to “The Hare and the Tortoise”, the fable of “The Tortoise and the Ducks” does not end well for the tortoise. He wanted to see more of the world, which is generally a noble thing to do in a fairytale. Two ducks offer to give this tortoise a ride, but warn him to keep his mouth shut. Another bird flew past them and comments that he must be the King of Tortoises. When he tries to reply he opens his mouth and falls to his death. The moral of this fable: Foolish curiosity and vanity often lead to misfortune. Alice’s Adventures In WonderlandSir John Tenniel, Alice In Wonderland 1911Blondine and the TortoiseVirginia Frances Sterrett (1900 – 1931) 1920 illustration for Old French Fairy Tales by Comtesse de Ségur Blondine and the Tortoise. This story belongs to the corpus of narrative in which the character (often female) is rewarded for being incurious. And I stand by my theory that if an animal exists in the world, somewhere in story, it has been ridden.The Hare in a Hurry, 1975, by Molly Brett (1902-1990), British. Hares who are too quick for their own good are an Aesopian staple in children’s stories.Header illustration: Arthur Rackham’s illustration for “The Hare and the Tortoise” from a collection of Aesop’s Fables. Milo Winter The Aesop for Children 1919 Hare and the TortoiseFURTHER READINGThe Hare and the Tortoise is ultimately a story about persistence. For many more books about trying your hardest until you’ve achieved your goal, see here. A determined snail. A plump cabbage. A truly epic journey . . . In a book as cheerful and charming as Snail himself, Corey Tabor tells a winning tale of a slow but steady snail, whose determination and kindness bring him the best reward of all: friendship. READ AT MY OTHER BLOG What is the theme of the story of The Tortoise and the Hare?The Tortoise and the Hare is a classic children's story featuring themes of speed, over-confidence, tenacity, and just desserts. The hare boasted that his speed was unmatched, and took for granted the tortoise's slow-and-steady pace.
What the character of hare in the story of the hare and turtle?The Hare is a quick-moving, overly confident animal that has a reputation of being the fastest around. The Tortoise is a slow-moving creature that knows his limitations, yet carries a level of confidence and strength that leads him to victory.
What is the resolution of the story the hare and the tortoise?The hare is very confident of winning, so it stops during the race and falls asleep. The tortoise continues to move very slowly but without stopping and finally it wins the race. The moral lesson of the story is that you can be more successful by doing things slowly and steadily than by acting quickly and carelessly.
What is the conflict of the hare and the tortoise story?The hare makes fun of the tortoise and challenges him to a race (externalconflict). The tortoise, despite being at a disadvantage (internal conflict), accepts the challenge,and they both take off.
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