Two little animals with bristly backs and short crooked legs lived in a small house near a field. They were Mr. Hedgehog and Mrs. Hedgehog. One morning Mr. Hedgehog was standing at the door of his house. His wife was getting the breakfast. Mr. Hedgehog was looking out on the world. Then he went for a little walk. As he was walking down towards the field, he met a Hare. The Hare always thought that he was much better than the Hedgehog, and he never spoke to him when they met. But this bright morning the Hedgehog forgot about that. He was so happy that he said, “Good morning, Mr. Hare.” The Hare only asked, “Where are you going so early in the morning?” “Oh, I’m just going for a walk,” said the Hedgehog. The Hare looked down at the Hedgehog’s short crooked legs and said, “I don’t think you can walk far with your legs.” “So you think your legs are better than mine?” said the Hedgehog. The Hare looked down at the Hedgehog’s short crooked legs again and laughed.
“I let’s Run a Race!”
“Let’s run a race,” said the Hare, “and you’ll see that my legs are better than yours.”
The Hedgehog knew that he could never win in a race with the Hare, but he thought a little and said:
“All right, I will run a race with you.”
“Very well,” said the Hare. “Let’s go down to the field. You can run in one furrow and I can run in another. If you win, I will give you a nice cake. Come along.”
“Oh, I can’t go with you just now,” said the Hedgehog. “I must have my breakfast. My wife is waiting for me. I will meet you at the field.”
Then the Hedgehog ran home to his wife as fast as his little legs could carry him.
“I won’t have my breakfast now, wife,” he said.
“What’s the matter with you?” asked Mrs. Hedgehog.
“I’m going to run a race with Mr. Hare, and you must help me,” said the Hedgehog.
“You can’t run a race with Mr. Hare,” cried his wife.
“Yes, I can,” said the Hedgehog. “Come with me to the field, and I will tell you how you can help me.”
So they went down to the field. The Hedgehog said a few words to his wife and then left her at one end of the furrow and ran up to the other end of it.
The Race
Soon the Hare came along, ready for the race. The Hedgehog came out to meet him.
“Oh, you are here early,” said the Hare.
“Yes,” said the Hedgehog, “I’m waiting for you.”
“Well,” said the Hare, “now you stay in that furrow, and I shall go into this one next to it. When I count three, we shall run.”
So the Hedgehog went into one furrow and the Hare into the one next to it, and they could not see each other.
The Hare counted in a loud voice, “One, two, three.”
When he said “three,” he ran so fast that his feet hardly touched the ground. But when he came to the other end of the furrow, he saw a Hedgehog at the end of the next furrow.
“I’m already here,” said the Hedgehog. “I’m waiting for you.”
“What?” cried the Hare. “There is some mistake; you could never win the race with your short crooked legs. We will run back again.”
The Hare went into his furrow and then counted, “One, two, three.”
At “three” he ran like the wind again. But when he came to the other end of his furrow, the Hedgehog jumped up from the next furrow.
“I’m already here,” said the Hedgehog. “I’m waiting for you.”
The End of the Race
“I can’t understand this,” said the Hare. “There is some mistake. We will run again.”
So the Hare ran again. He ran seventy-three times. Every time he came to one end or to the other, a Hedgehog jumped up from the next furrow and said, “I’m already here.”
The Hare was running for the seventy-fourth time, when he had to stop in the middle of the furrow and rest.
Then the Hedgehog ran down and took his wife by the arm, and they went home to their breakfast, and they laughed as hard as they could laugh.
After a while the Hare got up and went home. There he sat for a long time. At last he said to himself, “I must go and ask the Hedgehog how he won the race.”
And he ran to the Hedgehog’s house, and knocked at the door. The Hedgehog opened the door. When he saw who was there he began to laugh.
“I must give you the cake as you won the race,” said the Hare, “And I will give you more. If you tell me how you won the race. I can’t understand how you could do it with your short crooked legs.”
The Hedgehog and his wife laughed as hard as they could laugh.
“My Wits Are Longer Than Yours!”
“Don’t give me the cake,” said the Hedgehog. “I didn’t win the race with my legs. Your legs are longer than mine, are they not?”
“Yes, of course; they are,” said the Hare.
“Well, my wits are longer than yours,” said the Hedgehog. “My wife looks just like me, so I left her at one end of my furrow and I sat at the other end of it. When you ran to one end of your furrow, my wife jumped up to meet you. When you ran to the other end, I jumped up to meet you. We didn’t run at all. So that is how we won the race.”
The Hare did not say a word. He turned and ran home as fast as he could run.
Never did he say a word about legs to the Hedgehog after that. But the Hedgehog and his wife laughed every time they thought of that race.
