A fast runner loses a race to a slow runner. The useful question is how this happens. Follow the choices made after the race starts, rather than judging the animals by speed alone.
This recording contains one fable and its Application commentary. It is not the full collection. The 1818 edition uses older English. Read the linked text when a word is unclear.
Audio and source text
Reader: Larry Wilson. Recording length: 2:43.
Read this fable in the 1818 source edition
Listen with a purpose
Listen once without the text. Read the source text. Listen again and complete the task. Use the player controls to pause or repeat.
Prepare a timeline with the start, the hare’s rest, and the finish. Add one action for each runner. In the second listen, distinguish the hare’s expectation from the actual result.
Useful vocabulary for this topic
- boast
- to speak with too much pride about your own abilities
- umpire
- the person who judges a competition
- steady
- continuing at a regular pace
Check your understanding
Who is chosen to judge the race in this edition?
Show the answer
The fox is chosen as umpire.
Why does the hare stop to sleep?
Show the answer
She believes she has enough time and can easily recover the lost ground.
What does the tortoise do while the hare sleeps?
Show the answer
It continues at a steady pace and reaches the finish first.
Think about the story
The result depends on behaviour during the race. It is not evidence that speed is always useless. Support your explanation with the hare’s delay and the tortoise’s continued movement.
Your writing task
Summarise the race in four sentences. Include one prediction made by the hare and one event that disproves it.
Check your work: answer from the recording, support your interpretation, and keep guesses separate from facts.
Source and recording
Fable: Aesop; English edition: Fables of Aesop and Others, with Thomas Bewick’s designs (1818).
Reader: Larry Wilson. Recording: LibriVox.
LibriVox releases its recordings into the public domain, including for commercial reuse. Its published copyright statement explains the territorial scope.
LibriVox public-domain statement
The guide and exercises are original BookAud material. The source recording has not been changed.