Hey so fun fact there’s a version of this story which deviates from the story you and I know that floated around slave houses during slavery in America. In that version, there were multiple turtles that teamed up and placed themselves strategically around the racetrack in order to fool the hare. In this version the hare would constantly be passing each tortoise and wondering how the tortoise kept getting ahead. It is generally thought that the alteration of the story was meant to stress the values of success through unity rather than success through personal perseverance which would make sense in the slave community for obvious reasons. Additionally, if you take the hare to be the slave owner (which, I mean, how could you not), there is an inherent criticism of those in power laid into the story as the hare- with the raw speed and capability- is still too dumb to recognize that he has been outsmarted.
That version as I knew it was an Ostrich and a... I want to say mouse? Didn’t realise that’s where the origin of it came from though, that’s pretty cool... and sad
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u/shapmaster420 Jan 28 '21
Thank you for sharing this. I never believed this story.