The Race Between Hare and Hedgehog
It was once upon a time on a Saturday morning in autumn, while the barley-fields were still in bloom.
The sun was shining, the morning wind was blowing over the stubble, the larks were singing high in the air, the bees were buzzing in the barley blossoms, and the people were going blithely about their day’s work; in short, all the world was happy, and the Hedgehog, too.
The Hedgehog stood in front of his door with folded arms, looked at the weather, and hummed a tune as only a hedgehog can hum on a Saturday morning.
Now, as he stood there humming, he thought to himself all at once that, while his wife was washing and dressing the children, he might as well go for a little walk in the fields and see how his turnips were getting on.
The turnips grew near his house, and he and his family ate as many of them as ever they wanted, and so he looked upon them quite naturally as his property.
Well, the Hedgehog slammed his door and started for the turnip-field. He hadn’t got very far, and was just sauntering round the brier-bush that stood outside the field, when he met the Hare, who was out on the same errand—namely, to look at his cabbages.
When the Hedgehog caught sight of the Hare, he gave him a pleasant “Good morning.”
But the Hare, who was a very aristocratic person in his own way, and very high and mighty in his manner, didn’t answer the Hedgehog’s greeting, but said, with a nasty sneer:
“What are you running about the fields for so early in the morning?”