The Tortoise's Race with the Elephant

The Tortoise, tired of being mocked for his slowness, challenged the Elephant to a race from one village to another. The Elephant laughed but accepted the challenge. All the animals gathered to watch. The Tortoise, however, had a clever plan. The night before the race, he gathered all of his relatives—cousins, brothers, uncles—and placed them at intervals along the race path, hidden in the bushes. The next morning, the race began. The Elephant thundered off, leaving the Tortoise at the starting line. After running for some time, the Elephant shouted, "Ho, Tortoise, where are you?" To his astonishment, a voice from just ahead of him replied, "Here I am!" It was, of course, one of the Tortoise's relatives, but the Elephant did not know this. He ran even faster, but every time he called out, the confident voice of a "Tortoise" answered from just ahead. The Elephant ran himself into complete exhaustion, while the original Tortoise simply ambled over the finish line just after the Elephant collapsed, claiming victory. The Elephant had been beaten not by speed, but by cleverness.