Slowly but surely, Tommy meandered to the starting line. The entire time he was making his way there, Hubert was behind him, laughing at him. “Good luck, slowpoke!” Hubert would say with a mean voice. “Don’t worry! I’ll leave you some pieces of apple seeds!” he announced. “I hope you’re ready to eat my dust!

But, Tommy did not care. Tommy did not mind that Hubert was saying all of those mean things because Tommy was taught that words only have power if he thinks that they have power, so he did not listen to Hubert. He knew that mean words were not nice to say.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” cried Olivia, hooting as loudly as she could for all to hear. “I hope you’re ready for a good race! Remember, this is a good, clean, fair race! No kicking or hitting or underhanded tricks! Just running and racing!”

So, Tommy and Hubert stood at the finish line.

“On your marks!” They were ready to go. Hubert was jumping from foot to foot impatiently. “Get set!” Hubert was ready to kick off to run. “Go!” And as soon as Olivia hooted, off Hubert ran!

Before Tommy could even lift his foot off of the ground, Hubert was off! He ran very quickly and reached the finish line in record time! But, he was not ready to win, yet! So, he turned around and returned back to the tortoise. “You know,” said Hubert, “I knew that I would win, but I didn’t know that I’d win before you could get in three steps!” Hubert thought he was hilarious, and he rolled around on the ground, laughing.

Tommy did not listen to Hubert at all. He ignored the hare and smiled as he walked along, humming his own song and not reacting at all. So, Hubert came up with his own game. He decided that he would run to just before the finish line and then go all the way back to Tommy. He wanted to know how many times over he could have beaten Tommy on his own. He was interested in seeing just how quick he could go. So, he went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. After twenty times, Tommy was not even halfway done with the race yet! So, this continued for most of the afternoon. Tommy would slowly but steadily walk toward the finish line, step by step getting closer, and Hubert would run back and forth.

Soon, Hubert started to feel very sleepy. He was breathing big, deep breaths because he was running so much. He had an idea. If Tommy was as slow as he was, he could just take a nap! So, Hubert ran all the way back to Tommy one more time. “You know,” said Hubert. “You are so slow that I can take a nap and I’ll still beat you!”

Tommy smiled back at Hubert. He did not mind at all. “Good night,” he said politely as he continued to slowly walk away. And sure enough, Hubert walked over to a pile of nice, comfy grass, and curled up. Before Tommy had moved even a few more feet, Hubert was asleep!

Tommy kept on going, and soon, long after Hubert had stopped for a nap, Tommy realized that he could see the finish line! He kept going, step by step, and even though the crowds could see that the tortoise was about to win, no one wanted to cheer, for they did not want to wake up the hare. So, they watched very, very closely and very, very quietly.

But, just before Tommy could cross the finish line, Hubert woke up! Hubert blinked and looked around and realized that the sun was almost set. He had to win the race!! So, off Hubert went. He ran as fast as he could and he had never run faster than he was right that minute. He ran faster and faster.

“Go, Tommy, go!!” animals started to call out. They could see that Hubert was coming quicker and quicker. But, Hubert was not quick enough! Tommy was too close to the finish line!