Bear's Race with Turtle

Bear was tired and grouchy that day. It was cold and the morning sleet made his fur stick together into sharp black pins. There was no fruit to gather and not a lot of warm, sunny grass to roll in. All in all, the dark moon had come to live in his heart and he was surly and not comfortable in his skin.

He wandered along a pond bank and saw Turtle resting on a wet branch, sitting silently and peacefully, warming himself in the bit of winter sun that struggled to shine. Not at all happy to see someone at peace when he himself was so irritated with life that day, Bear growled at Turtle. "What are you doing, stupid and slow one? There is not enough sun to warm anyone today. Go back down through the hole in your ice and stay out of my way."

Turtle opened his eyes slowly and looked at unhappy Bear. "You are grumpy this morning, but you have no reason to take it out on me. Why do you call me names when it is you that is the miserable one?"

"All animals know you are the stupid and slow one," replied Bear. "Like I said, stay out of my way."

"We go two different ways. I am not in yours," answered Turtle gently.

"That is because your way is stupid and slow," growled Bear.

"Maybe a competition would lift your mood and allow you to think of something besides yourself and your woes," offered Turtle. "What if we have a race, you and I? I will meet you here tomorrow and we will race around the pond you on the bank and me under the ice."

"You'd be too easy to beat," growled Bear. "Besides, you could cheat by cutting across the pond. I would not be able to see you below the ice."

"Your unhappy mood makes you see everything in a bad way," replied Turtle. "I will make a line of holes and pop my head out at each one so that you can see I am staying along the shore."

Bear thought a while and realized that the idea of a competition was lifting his spirits. It would be good to show this stupid and slow turtle how foolish he was. Bear agreed and wandered off chuckling for the first time in weeks. Turtle chuckled, too. He knew he had made Bear happy, even if in a simple way, and he knew that speed wasn't always in a creature's legs. Sometimes it was in his brains.

The next morning Turtle was waiting at the old branch in the ice. Bear lumbered up and smirked. "Are you ready to be beaten?" Bear asked brightly. Turtle simply smiled and slipped into the icy water. Bear began his path around the pond's edge. Ahead of him he could see the first hole in the ice and, to his great astonishment, before he got there, he saw the head of Turtle pop through. He hadn't been concerned, but now he picked up his speed and ignored the branches and snow mounds to charge on. The second hole was just ten feet in front of him and again Turtle's head popped through before Bear reached it. Now Bear ran in earnest. He blew hard through his mouth and nose, causing moist air to freeze into tiny icicles around his face. He crushed thin ice and stick piles, crashing through the undergrowth and kicking up snow storms in his wake, but still Turtle's head continued to stay in front of him. His sides ached and his leg muscles screamed as he churned recklessly around the edge of the great ice, but he never caught up to Turtle's popping head.

At the end of the race, when Turtle was back on the log resting, Bear dragged up and tried to catch his breath so he could speak. "IIcannotbebelievethis," panted Bear. "I amsorryI called you names. IIam goinghometo rest." He lumbered away and slept through the rest of the cold winter, not showing himself again until spring.

Turtle smiled as Bear stumbled away. He looked out over the frozen pond with its many ice holes. Just then each of his friends and relatives popped their heads through the holes and smiled back then dove back down into the water. "Slow and stupid?" thought Turtle. "Not at all." Then he went back to enjoying his peace and his quiet log.