We Cherokee have a legend about a race between a
terrapin & a rabbit. The rabbit was faster and more athletic
than most animals which would be good, except for the fact that he was quite arrogant about it; always bragging about how much better he was than everyone else. The terrapin got tired of his bragging and decided that something had to be done: so he challenged the rabbit to a race across 4 hills. The rabbit
thought he must be joking. "You can't outrun anybody, much less me!"; "You shouldn't be so quick to judge others" replied the
terrapin. Soon the rabbit agreed & a date was set. Then the terrapin went to his friends & told them that if they work together they could bring the rabbit down a peg. After hearing his plan they all agreed. Rabbit had already told terrapin that since he was so slow he could begin at the top of the first hill, "but I'll
still win easily." Rabbit got to the bottom of the first hill & looked
until he could see terrapin moving around at the top, then he began. When he reached the top of the hill he couldn't see where
terrapin was in the tall grass, but was sure he couldn't have gotten
that far. He continued on confident that he would soon be in the lead.
At one point he passed through a clearing where he could see the top of the next Hill and was shocked to see terrapin already there! He picked up the pace; at the next summit he again lost terrapin in the grass.
Eventually he could see the top of the third hill, but terrapin was already there. Rabbit put everything into his running - determined to finally catch up to terrapin. After going down & up the final hill he saw terrapin waiting for him at the finish line. Exhausted from pushing himself too hard rabbit fell in the grass whimpering & never even reached the top. This was the end of rabbit's bragging; he never realized that terrapin had stationed one of his friends at the
top of each hill & the real terrapin was waiting at the last one all along.
