Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions

The Greedy Man

There once was a very greedy man who sold everything he owned and bought a brick of gold. He buried the gold brick behind a hut that was across the road from his shabby old house. Every day, the greedy man went across the road and dug up his gold brick to look at it. After a while, a workman noticed the greedy man going across the road every day, and decided to follow him. The next day, the greedy man dug down for his gold brick, but the hole was empty. He pulled at his hair, and cried out in sorrow. “My beautiful gold brick!” he wept. A neighbor came running, and asked the greedy man what had happened. When the greedy man told him, the neighbor just shrugged his shoulders. “Why be so sad?” said the neighbor. Just go get a rock and put it in that hole, and pretend that it is gold. It will do you as much good as the gold did.”

The Hare and the Tortoise

The beasts of the forest had long argued about who was the fastest—the Hare or the Tortoise. So a race was arranged. “I welcome this contest,” the Tortoise said. The Hare was harder to convince. “This is ridiculous nonsense,” he said. But finally he agreed. Race day arrived, and the Tortoise started down the path.

“Run hard!” shouted the Tortoise’s fans. The Hare stood looking down the path. “Ridiculous nonsense,” he muttered, and then he dashed off down the path.

“Run hard!” shouted the Hare’s fans. The Hare ran for a while and then stopped. He looked around, but the Tortoise was nowhere in sight. The Hare sat down and scratched himself.

“Run hard!” shouted the Hare’s fans.

“Let him rest!” shouted the others. When the Hare saw the Tortoise coming, he got up and ran for a while more. Then he sat down and scratched himself. This went on until the Hare was almost to the finish line where all the animals of the forest were gathered. Suddenly, it struck him how foolish he looked running a race with a Tortoise who was nowhere in sight. He sat down again. Some say he slept.

The Tortoise won, and all the animals cheered. “How did you do it?” someone asked.

“Slow and steady wins the race,” the Tortoise replied. And that is the moral of this story. It also became a popular saying among all the animals, especially the snails.