The Hare and the Tortoise
A fable retold from Aesop
This fable is one of Aesop's most famous tales, retold here from Lida B. McMurry's 1907 collection Fifty Famous Fables. Aesop was a storyteller in ancient Greece whose fables have been told for thousands of years. This story teaches that slow and steady work can win over quick talent that does not try hard. The race between Hare and Tortoise has delighted children ever since, and the lesson is as true today as it was long ago. This text reflects its era.
- Band
- Purple · Pre-readers and first readersTypical starting range: ages 4–5
- Length
- short · about 353 words in 4 sections · 4 pictures
- Source
- Fifty Famous Fables, Lida B. McMurry
- First published
- see the About page in the reader
- Regions
- Canada · United States
Included formats
- · Web reader and PDF
- · EPUB for e-readers
- · Home-print sheet
- · Folded booklet
- · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
- · Worksheet
- · Quick Check (6 questions) with answer key
- · Read-aloud script
- · Colouring page
- · Teacher’s Edition (members)
Lesson at a glance
- Reading
- about 8 minutes at this band
- Pause questions
- 3
- Words to Know
- 4
- Quick Check
- 6 questions, with the answer key
- Let’s Talk
- 3 questions for afterwards
- Worksheet
- questions, an activity and a drawing prompt
About 35 minutes with one story, all of it.
Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.
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The same story
Other bands of this story
This story is ready now at the Purple band only. Other bands can be made to order for members after launch.