The tortoise and the hare

I'm sure everyone remembers the tortoise and the hare and the lesson that slow and steady wins the race. I have no problem with the moral, in fact I've been making arguments along similar lines lately, which is what got me thinking about the story. But the fable never struck me quite right. I now realize it is because the moral and the story don't fit together. The moral is don't be an idiot or don't be an arrogant ass or... Slow and steady wins the race doesn't fit, because a hare that was actually determined to win would have gone fast and left the tortoise in the dust, and in fact if there was another rabbit in the race the one that loses in the story might have won since he would have taken it seriously and not bothered with the nap. Maybe the moral is actually to challenge yourself. If the fable was changed to where the rabbit had to take a nap because he was so tired from sprinting then the moral would fit.

That has been bothering me since childhood and I'm glad that we now have technology that allows me to broadcast that frustration to the world.