The Fable of the Tortoise and the Fox, part 2

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The Fox was waiting for the Tortoise to pass him. ‘Hey, aren’t you the Tortoise I’ve heard so much about?’, he asked amiably. The Tortoise looked at the stranger and said in a slow, deliberate manner: ‘I am he, yes. Can I help you?’ The Tortoise, despite being a loner, was always willing to help others, you see. Even strangers met in the forest, whose smile didn’t quite reach their eyes.

The Fox said: ‘Oh, I wouldn’t presume to bother you… but yes, if you’re so kind. Please, follow me.’ And so together they walked deeper into the forest. Of course the Tortoise, being a tortoise, would move at his own, very slow pace. This unnerved the Fox, who felt that his hunger could wait no longer. When he decided they were far enough from any prying eyes, he pounced at the Tortoise. ‘His shell won’t protect him for long,’ he thought to himself, ‘against an opponent as nimble as myself!’ Ah, but he was gravely mistaken.