Добрые сказки для чтения на английском языке - страница 2

On the days leading up to the race, the word got out very far. There was lots of talk about how a tortoise was going to race against the fastest animal that the forest had ever seen and everyone thought that was very funny. They did not believe that he would be able to win! But, they were willing to watch and see what happened. After all, anything was possible.

The day before the big race, Hubert came up to Tommy. Hubert looked at the old tortoise and laughed. He was very glad to see that the tortoise looked as old as he had sounded! “So, big guy, you think that you can beat me, huh?” asked Hubert. Hubert ran circles around Tommy as fast as he could. “Do you really think you’re faster than me? Look! I can literally run circles around you!” And Hubert was. Hubert could run a circle around Tommy before he could even move his feet quickly enough for just one step. “You’re going down!”

But, Tommy did not care. Tommy just smiled at Hubert and kept on going along without a care in the world. You see, Tommy was too old to care about winning or losing. He was too old to think that only the fastest would win. He knew a very important secret and he w’as sure that his very important secret would be enough for him to figure out how to beat Hubert. And, even if he did lose, he was okay with that, too, for he was not a sore loser.

On the day of the big race, animals came from far and wide to watch. They heard that there was going to be a hare racing a tortoise and they all thought that it sounded so absurd that they had to go and see it. So, just before the race began, there was a lineup of animals as far as the eye could see. They were all lined up along the race path, and they where very interested to see what kind of tortoise would challenge a hare to a race.

Slowly but surely, Tommy meandered to the starting line. The entire time he was making his way there, Hubert was behind him, laughing at him. “Good luck, slowpoke!” Hubert would say with a mean voice. “Don’t worry! I’ll leave you some pieces of apple seeds!” he announced. “I hope you’re ready to eat my dust!

But, Tommy did not care. Tommy did not mind that Hubert was saying all of those mean things because Tommy was taught that words only have power if he thinks that they have power, so he did not listen to Hubert. He knew that mean words were not nice to say.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” cried Olivia, hooting as loudly as she could for all to hear. “I hope you’re ready for a good race! Remember, this is a good, clean, fair race! No kicking or hitting or underhanded tricks! Just running and racing!”

So, Tommy and Hubert stood at the finish line.

“On your marks!” They were ready to go. Hubert was jumping from foot to foot impatiently. “Get set!” Hubert was ready to kick off to run. “Go!” And as soon as Olivia hooted, off Hubert ran!

Before Tommy could even lift his foot off of the ground, Hubert was off! He ran very quickly and reached the finish line in record time! But, he was not ready to win, yet! So, he turned around and returned back to the tortoise. “You know,” said Hubert, “I knew that I would win, but I didn’t know that I’d win before you could get in three steps!” Hubert thought he was hilarious, and he rolled around on the ground, laughing.

Tommy did not listen to Hubert at all. He ignored the hare and smiled as he walked along, humming his own song and not reacting at all. So, Hubert came up with his own game. He decided that he would run to just before the finish line and then go all the way back to Tommy. He wanted to know how many times over he could have beaten Tommy on his own. He was interested in seeing just how quick he could go. So, he went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. After twenty times, Tommy was not even halfway done with the race yet! So, this continued for most of the afternoon. Tommy would slowly but steadily walk toward the finish line, step by step getting closer, and Hubert would run back and forth.