Slow and steady wins the race.
Correct. Complete. Full marks.
The Common Ratio
There is one story I met more often at school than any friend: the tortoise and the hare.
It kept coming back, every few years, like a relative at weddings. Each time, the question was a little longer, the space for the answer a little bigger, and the marks a little more expensive. The moral never changed. Not once. Slow and steady won the race in Class I, and slow and steady was still winning it when I sat the GRE.
Maths teachers call this a geometric progression: every term is the previous term multiplied by a common ratio. In my case, the common ratio was the teacher's expectations.
Here is the progression, term by term.
Class I What is the moral of the story?
[1]
It was all downhill from here.
Class V What do you understand from the story?
Answer in four to five lines.
[3]
The hare thought that he was faster than the tortoise and challenged him to a race. When the hare went ahead, he got confident of winning and decided to take a nap. However, the tortoise kept on walking continuously, hence when the hare woke up, he found that the tortoise had overtaken him and was winning the race.
Hence we can say that slow and steady wins the race.
Good. Add more detail.
Class VII In your own words, explain the story.
Half a page.
[5]
The hare was arrogant, and he ridiculed the tortoise for being slow and challenged him to a race. The tortoise agreed, even though the other animals advised him against it, as they were sure that the tortoise was going to lose.
Still, the tortoise persisted, and the race began. After running for some time, the hare got tired. He looked back; the tortoise was left way behind, and only a small distance was left to win. So he decided to take a nap, confident that he was going to win.
However, the tortoise persisted and kept on walking, and eventually overtook the hare, who was sleeping. When the hare woke up, he was shocked to see the tortoise near the finish line, and before he could run, the tortoise crossed the line and won the race.
Even though the tortoise was at a disadvantage, he continued to work steadily and achieved his goal. Hence we can say that the moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race.
Own words? Fine. More words.
Note the instruction: in your own words. The words were mine. The story, and the moral, were still Aesop’s.
Class X What is the key message that the author wants to convey through the story?
Mention the author, the theme and a real-life application.
[8]
The story of “The Tortoise and the Hare” is written by Aesop, in his Fables, in which, through the metaphor of a tortoise and a hare and a race between them, the author wants to enforce the value of perseverance.
In this story, the author describes a hare who was egoistic and proud that he could run fast. When he saw a slow-moving tortoise, the hare ridiculed him for his slow speed and challenged him to a race. The tortoise was calm, and he accepted the challenge, even though his friends the Monkey and the Donkey advised him against it. They thought it was a futile attempt and defeat was certain.
The race began, and predictably the hare ran ahead and gained considerable ground. He got a bit tired, turned around, realised that he was well ahead, and decided to take a nap before running on. Meanwhile, the tortoise continued his walk, and within some time he crossed the hare. When the hare woke up, he was shocked to see the tortoise near the finish line. The hare tried to run very fast, but the tortoise won the race.
The steady determination of the tortoise had won him the race. Similarly, in real life, when we are faced with very difficult tasks, we should work on them patiently and steadily, and eventually we will win. Like the tortoise, we should keep working hard, and hence the saying: slow and steady wins the race.
Good. Mention more.
The GRE Write a short essay highlighting the key aspects of the story.
30 minutes. “Short”.
[—]
Aesop, the famed storyteller of ancient Greece, through his fable about the Tortoise and the Hare, tries to put forth a key philosophy of life, packaged as a fanciful tale.
The Hare’s vanity and egotism are undeniable. He ridicules the Tortoise for his lack of flair and proclaims that speed is the true determiner of one’s worthiness. He insults the Tortoise, and further intends to add to his misery by challenging and defeating him in a duel of speed: a race.
The Tortoise, physically at a clear disadvantage, makes up for it with his doggedness. He accepts the challenge, even though his well-wishers, the Donkey and the Monkey, try to convince him of the folly he is about to commit.
The race is promptly arranged, and the Hare and the Tortoise wait at the start line for the starting bell. The Tortoise displays true sportsmanship by wishing his competitor the best of luck. The arrogant Hare snarls at him. He loses the support of the crowd, who are now agonised by his bounderish behaviour, and the crowd gets behind the underdog.
The Hare makes a nice start and gains quite a lot of ground. The Tortoise just manages to move ahead steadily. The crowd, enthusiastic as they may be, now see the writing on the wall. They feel that the cause is lost and begin to disperse, regarding the race as a foregone conclusion.
As the noise settles, the Hare begins to feel the scorching sun. Sweating, he gets a bit tired and pauses to catch his breath. Turning around, he sees the Tortoise way back and thinks that this one is in his pocket. He looks around, finds a nice tree, and decides to relish the cool shade for a while, re-energise himself and then make a run for the finish. However, the cool breeze makes him drowsy, and he falls asleep.
Meanwhile, the Tortoise, now alone, continues his toil in the sun and keeps chipping away at the target, step by step. His persistence pays off, and he manages to pass the Hare. Here, remaining true to the spirit of competition, he does not wake the Hare up, and continues his steady march towards the finish line.
Then suddenly a nightmare wakes the Hare, and to his utter disbelief, he finds the Tortoise near the finish line. He realises that he has left it too late and tries a half-hearted sprint. He should have realised that it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. The spirit of perseverance makes sure that the Tortoise crosses the line and produces an unlikely upset in the scheme of things.
Aesop, through his simple narration, achieves multiple objectives: he highlights what a vice vanity can be, and how a virtue like persistence pays off. At the end, he himself summarises it aptly:
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady wins the race.
06 · The Progression
Put the terms side by side:
Words per answer
Same story, same moral. Hover a bar for the count.
Words in the answerMoral: 6 words, every time
Show as a table
| Stage | Words | The moral |
|---|---|---|
| Class I | 6 | Slow and steady wins the race |
| Class V | 69 | Slow and steady wins the race |
| Class VII | 171 | Slow and steady wins the race |
| Class X | 243 | Slow and steady wins the race |
| GRE | 482 | Slow and steady wins the race (×2) |
Strictly speaking it isn't a perfect geometric progression; the ratio wobbles between one and a half and eleven. But then, I was never very good at maths.
What it is, is an education. Seventeen years to learn how to say six words in four hundred and eighty-two. Nobody ever went back and told the Class I boy that his answer was wrong. It wasn't. It got full marks. Everything after that was the same answer, with interest.
The hare, I now realise, was the only one in the story who understood the system. He saw how far ahead he was, and took a nap.
The tortoise just kept walking. Slow, steady, and getting longer every year.
— Vinaay Patil
Formula of the Day
an = 6 × rn−1
- an = words in the answer, year n
- r = the teacher's expectations
- 6 = slow and steady wins the race
- Moral = constant
Days Under the Crescent Sun
Stories from school days and a 1990s Pune childhood: plans that were too clever, teachers who were never questioned, and the people who made it all bearable.
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