"You see," Mother Bear explained, "the hare was so sure he could win that he did not even try to reach the goal quickly. He was so swift-footed that he thought he could go to sleep if he chose and still come out ahead of the patient tortoise."
"Wasn't he silly!" exclaimed Little Bear. "If I were going to run a race with Grandpa Tortoise, I should go this way until I reached the goal!" And Little Bear pranced up and down the room until he made even the porridge bowls rattle in the cupboard. "I guess I should know enough to know that Grandpa Tortoise would keep stepping ahead and stepping ahead and get to the goal in time! You would not catch me taking any naps if I started out to run a race with anyone! No, sir-ree!"
Mother Bear laughed heartily, but Father Bear looked very solemn. He did not like to hear Little Bear brag at all.
"So you think, Son Bear," said he, "that, if you should run a race with Grandpa Tortoise, you would be wiser than our old friend, Peter Hare? Is that what you mean?"
"I know I should," bragged Little Bear. "I'd say, 'Good-by, Grandpa Tortoise!' and off I'd start, and I should beat him before he had time to think. Then, afterward, if I were sleepy and wanted to, I should take a nap."
"Very well," said Father Bear, "I shall see Grandpa
Tortoise, and if he is willing to run a race with a silly
little fellow like you, you shall have your chance, and
Peter Hare shall be the judge."
So it came about that, when the rain was over, the friends of the Three Bears and of the hare and the tortoise met in the woods to see the fun.
Little Bear noticed that, before the race began, the hare and the tortoise were laughing about something, but he did not even wonder what it was. He had nothing to worry about.
At last the word was given: "One, two, three, go!"
[Illustration: He was out of breath before he had passed the first oak tree]