by Kathy Downey

Created on: December 18, 2009

In most tales, the tortoise beats the rabbit by being steadfast. He keeps plugging along while the hare gets overconfident and lazy. However, one Cherokee legend attributes the terrapin’s win to a less admirable trait. The story goes like this:

Rabbit constantly bragged about fast he could run. Even though Terrapin was a slow mover, he was also a braggart, and he and Rabbit argued endlessly about who was faster. One day they decided to have a race in order to settle the issue once and for all. They would run across four mountain ridges, and the one who finished first would be the winner.

Rabbit was so sure of himself that he told Terrapin he would give him the first ridge. In other words, Terrapin would only have to cross three while Rabbit would cross all four. Terrapin agreed, but he knew that even with that advantage, he could not really beat Rabbit.  He devised a secret plan, and he got several other terrapins to help him.

On the day of the race, Terrapin went ahead as they had agreed. They could not see him in the tall grass, so Rabbit started out running as fast as he could. He expected to zip past Terrapin on the first mountain, but before he reached the top, he saw Terrapin going over the ridge. Rabbit leaped with all his might. He looked for his friend when he got to the ridge, but he could not see him in the tall grass.

Rabbit ran and jumped even harder, but when he got to the bottom of the mountain, he saw Terrapin crossing the second ridge. He did everything he could to try and catch up, however, as he reached the top, he saw Terrapin going over the third ridge. Rabbit was beside himself. He used all his strength, and leaped until he was out of breath and almost unable to go on. When he got to the top, he saw Terrapin crossing over the fourth ridge, and winning the race. Rabbit was so exhausted that he lay on the ground and cried. He could not believe that he had lost.

Terrapin had pulled off a scam. He and his friends looked exactly the same, and the tall grass made a good disguise. Terrapin had simply sent one of his friends to hide in the grass at the top of each ridge, waiting until Rabbit approached. Then, each terrapin let himself be seen by the frantic rabbit before hiding again in the grass. Terrapin, himself, waited on the fourth ridge so he could be the one to finish the race. Nobody ever realized that they had been duped.

Rabbit is usually the clever one in folktales, but this time, Terrapin is the trickster. He cannot outrun Rabbit, but he beats him by practicing the art of deception. While this may not be a concept we want to teach our children, it does give the tale an interesting twist.

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