In the forest, on the western tip of the island, lived a proud, proud deer. He was so proud that he did not notice any of the animals, and he loved himself so much that if he happened to notice someone, he stopped and talked to him only about himself.
One day a deer met a turtle.
- Oh, it's you! “He nodded condescendingly with his head, crowned with beautiful thin horns. - Would you like to chat?
“Why not,” the turtle agreed peacefully. - What are we going to talk about?
- How about what? Of course, about me. Or don’t you know that I am the most beautiful, the smartest and the fastest in the forest?
"Perhaps only the most beautiful!" - thought the turtle and decided to teach the deer a lesson.
“I agree that you are the most beautiful and the smartest,” she said. - But about the fact that the fastest... Where did you get that from?
“That is, how...” the deer was confused. - Don't you want to say?..
“That’s it,” the turtle interrupted him. “I’m ready to bet that if I want, even I, the slowest one, will overtake you.” Is it coming?
- It's coming!
The deer was beside himself with anger.
“You can invite all your relatives to the competition,” added the turtle.
“I don’t need any relatives!” I can take care of myself. You won’t hobble even five steps before I’ll have walked the whole way! Shall we run around the lake tomorrow?
- As you wish.
The deer, snorting with indignation, left, and that same night the turtle went around to all its relatives and invited everyone to see how it would compete with the deer.
The next day, the deer and the turtle met on the shore.
—Have you decided not to invite anyone? - said the turtle. - In vain, dear blood in difficult times...
- Enough of this nonsense! - the deer interrupted her. - Shall we start?
- Let's begin.
They asked Brother Rabbit, who was gnawing a malanga tuber brought from the garden nearby, to be a judge and stood nearby near a stump. Brother Rabbit counted to three, waved a palm leaf, and the deer took off like the wind, and the turtle, to the great surprise of the rabbit, hobbled three steps, returned and sat down next to him.
Meanwhile, the deer rushed with such speed that palm trunks flashed past him like arrows. He ran a quarter of the way when he suddenly saw that in front of him... a turtle was hobbling! Before he had time to overtake her, he saw a second turtle halfway. And so, wherever he ran, he saw turtles who were hurrying to the competition and whom he accepted - after all, all turtles look alike! - for your rival.
Tired, barely moving his legs, he trudged to the place where the run began, and there he also saw... a turtle.
She sat on a stump and discussed the latest forest news with the rabbit.
Defeated (as he thought), the deer hung his head in shame and disappeared into the thicket of the forest.
- What's wrong with him? — the rabbit was surprised. “This is the first time I’ve seen a deer behave so timidly and modestly.”
“That’s good,” answered the turtle, “I like him better this way.” To tell the truth, there is no one in our forest more beautiful and faster than him. But he's hardly the smartest...
She looked from the stump into the distance and added:
- Yeah, they’re wandering!.. Now I’ll introduce you to my relatives. They are not beautiful and not very smart, but in difficult times they are always ready to help.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru