The Hedgehog and the Hare
And a hidden power
Once upon a time, there was a hare who lived in the woods. He was very fast and, importantly, he knew he was fast.
But speed isn’t everything. It can lead to arrogance.
And arrogance will be your downfall eventually.
The hare learned this lesson the hard way. He had a race against a tortoise and lost.
But that is another story.
This is the story about what happened the next day.
Embarrassed in front of all the other animals in the forest who had seen the race, the hare wanted to prove his speed again. He couldn’t let his forest friends think he was slow. Or that he wasn’t a winner.
The day after that terrible race with the tortoise, with his wounded ego hanging by a thread, the hare emerged from his burrow looking for someone, anyone to race him.
As chance would have it, the first animal he came across was the hedgehog.
Confidently, the hare challenged the hedgehog to a race through the forest.
This time he would learn his lesson.
This time he would run for the entire race.
This time he would win. And everyone would see his greatness.
This time the hare would choose a downhill path for the race so he could get up to his full, breathtaking speed. That way he could show all the animals of the forest what he could really do.
That would show them. They’d forget all about that stupid lucky tortoise when the hare came flying by them at top speed.
So he challenged the hedgehog to a race down Hasten Path - a long trail that went flat for a few paces before running steeply downhill to the edge of the forest.
To hare’s surprise, and with a slight smirk, the hedgehog accepted the challenge.
They would race that very afternoon after the hare had drawn a finish line and gathered the forest animals to witness his return to glory.
As the animals gathered, they murmured with anticipation since the previous race with the hare had been so shocking and wonderful.
To keep things fair, it was determined that the wise owl would start the race and ensure the rules were kept.
As hedgehog and hare crouched at the starting line the owl held up his wing:
“Ready . . . ”
“Set . . .”
“Go!”
Like a lightning bolt, hare shot out from the line. He was so fast that if you had not been watching, you never would have seen him. Just a blur of white fur that quickly covered the flat part of the course and disappeared down the hill.
Now, hedgehog isn’t exactly slow.
He’s not fast like hare but he can jog plenty fast enough.
If hare sprints and tortoise walks, hedgehog runs. He can move just fine, thank you.
Still, almost no one watching would’ve thought hedgehog was a serious threat to hare. No one except owl. Owl grinned, knowingly.
Hedgehog took off down the path. He focused on his feet. Made sure to avoid tripping on the roots and rocks in the path.
You may not know this, but even the smoothest paths in the youngest forests have roots and rocks and slippery leaves that can sweep your feet out from under you.
Hedgehog knew this.
He ignored the crowd and their excited fawning over the hare’s speed. He was too focused on the path in front of him to be bothered by what the spectators said or thought.
In fact, almost none of the spectators were even watching him. Most were debating whether hare was the fastest animal in the history of the forest or maybe even the fastest animal to ever live.
The crowd oohed and ahhhed over the raw display of speed.
Everyone was in awe . . . except owl.
Owl knew what was coming.
As hedgehog came over the hill, focused on his balance, his feet, and his direction . . .
He simply rolled into a ball.
You see, as hedgehog came over the top of the hill and started running down the side, he no longer needed to run.
He simply balled up and let nature do the rest.
At that time, he was far behind the speedier hare. But as he started rolling . . .
and rolling . . .
and rolling down the hill . . .
he began to catch up.
Sure, hare was a mush faster runner. Hedgehog could never keep up with the hare in a straight sprint.
But life is not a straight sprint.
And neither was this particular race.
Down the hill he rolled. Faster and faster and faster.
Until eventually, he passed hare. And he passed him without even trying (or noticing).
He just stayed tucked and let the roll carry him toward the finish line.
You can probably guess the rest.
Hedgehog easily won the race. He had spent so much time at the top of the hill making sure his direction was correct that he finished straight in the middle of the finish line . . . way ahead of the hare.
Breathless and bewildered, the hare ran across the finish line with the last ounce of his energy and collapsed.
Perched on a tree high above, owl simply grinned.
He had known.
Owl knew there were faster animals in the forest. There were bigger animals and much stronger animals.
But on THIS course in THIS race, no one would beat hedgehog.
Because in this particular race, hedgehog got to use a magical power that none of the other animals had - momentum.
THE END