Everyone will remember the story of the Tortoise and the Rabbit, in which the Tortoise defeated the Rabbit in a running race and thus ” Slow and Steady wins the race” was incorporated into the English literature. As a child, I was really fascinated by this small story. I am sure, we must have heard this story not once, but over and over again. I must have heard it a 100 times, may be more than that. I am not going to repeat the story again. But I always wanted to know what happened after the Tortoise wins the race. Did the Rabbit challenge the Tortoise ever again? Did the Tortoise accept the challenge?

I wonder why the story ended after the Tortoise won. The story couldn’t have been continued:

1. When the Lion (king) heard the story about the Tortoise, he thought that may be the Tortoise would make a better king. So the Tortoise was crowned as the king of the jungle.

Probability of this event – 1% (My guess)

2. When the Lion (king) heard the story about the Tortoise, he called for the Tortoise and asked him about his secret. The Tortoise said, “Slow and steady wins the race”. To confirm this, the king arranged a second race between them. This time also, the Tortoise defeated the Rabbit. The king was very pleased, and offered the Tortoise to marry his daughter.

Probaiblity of this event – 1% (Again a guess)

3. When the Lion (king) heard the story about the Tortoise, he called for the Tortoise and asked him about his secret. The Tortoise said, “Slow and steady wins the race”. To confirm this, the king arranged a second race between them. Bu this time, the rabbit had learn’t his mistake, and never stopped till he reached the finishing line. The Tortoise lost. The king became furious about the Tortoise being a liar and killed him.

Probability of this event – 98% (I am sure)

“Slow and steady wins the race”.CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tortoise woudn’t have raced again after that day. If it had, I am sure, “Learn from your mistakes” must have been more popular from “Slow and steady wins the race”. I am sure, the Rabbit would have won the second time. What might have kept the Tortoise running till the finish for the first time? “Patience”?? Of course, everybody knows that Tortoise can live upto 200years. Thats where they bring there patience from. A Rabbit can live only upto a maximum of 12 years. I now seriously doubt that Mr. Tortoise’s win was his luck. His stars might have been on his side that day. And I am sure, this event wouldn’t have happened again after that day. So whenever you hear this story from anyone, they are referring to this same event that had happened some trillions of years ago(probably). Because I haven’t come across any person who believes in this. and moreover, the story always starts with, “Once upon a time…”. The only thing that can support the credibility of this story, or the possibility of such an event happening in the near future is the “Theory of Probability”. But the theory of probability also states that the probability of a highly improbable event is very very less, but it will happen if you extend the time on both directions towards infinite. It might have happened, or it may happen. Nothing can be said for sure. So, we don’t know, if there was a race between these two immortal creatures. I request you all not to tell this story to your children.

I would prefer being the rabbit, who lost once but learned from his mistakes, though we don’t have evidence to prove this. But this event is more likely to happen. Its the Rabbit’s cup.

LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.