This is the excerpt from the story " hare and the tortoise" from the book "Give me back my guitar" . Author : Potharaju India , Publisher : Macmillan India .

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He ran with all his might but he was too late as the tortoise had already crossed the line .
 
The tortoise was declared the winner .All of a sudden he had become a hero . He had taught a valuable lesson to everyone
 
SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE ….
 
 The hare  was very humiliated . He realized that even though he was much more powerful than the tortoise he was defeated .
 
How he wished  he had
 
taken the break  after finishing the race
 
             rather than
 
taking a break from the race .
 
He then sat all by himself under a tree and started thinking as to why  a champion racer like him  lost the race to a mere tortoise  .
 
Was it because that the tortoise was SLOW AND STEADY that he lost ? No , that was not true . He lost the race because he did not  finish the race and the tortoise did .  Had he not taken rest and finished the race , he would have easily defeated the Hare .  Then , nobody would have said
 
“ SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE  RACE” .
 
Was it because the tortoise had more potential than him ? No . Obviously he had much more potential . He had defeated the fastest of the dogs and other hares in several races , so how could a mere tortoise be any match . But all the potential was of no use because he did not finish the race .
 
Why did he not complete the race ? If he were racing against his peers , would he have  taken a nap ? He took the nap only because he was racing against the tortoise . The race was not challenging enough . That is the reason he had become complacent and could not bring the best in him
 
In his case of the tortoise the goal would really stretch his abilities and was a great challenge . It brought out the best in him .
 
Also , He had agreed for a race where he had everything to lose and nothing to gain . Even if he had won the race he would not have gained anything . He was anyway expected to win.  He had nothing to gain in recognition or fame or rewards . However when he lost to the tortoise he had lost all his reputation in one day . 
 
For the tortoise , it was the reverse , this race he had everything to gain and nothing to lose  . So it was worthwhile for him to enter this race . If the tortoise had lost ,no one would have ridiculed him because he was anyway expected to lose . He became an instant hero when he won the race .
           
The Hare’s humiliation started giving way to sense of gratitude towards the tortoise . He had taught the Hare the most valuable lessons in life . he would not have learnt his lessons if he had not lost the race that day .  .... continued ....