Inspired by an Aesop Fable, we’ve written an alternative story of the Tortoise and the Hare, more oriented on investments.
One day a hare was bragging about how fast he could run. He bragged and bragged and even laughed at the tortoise, who was so slow. The tortoise stretched out his long neck and challenged the hare to a race, which, of course, made the hare laugh.
“My, my, what a joke!” thought the hare. “A race, indeed, a race. Oh! what fun! My, my! a race, of course, Mr. Tortoise, we shall race!” said the hare.
The forest animals met and mapped out the course. The course was long, rough, with plants full of thorns and other carnivorous animals passed by this route.
The race begun, and the hare, being such a swift runner, initially left the tortoise far behind. But as the route had obstacles as described, the hare soon bled his feet from the thorns. His bleeding feet prevented him from going fast. The hare made often pauses, because the route was full of thorns and his feet were bloody and had pains. Instead, the tortoise, tougher than hare, wasn’t bleeding and the thorns weren’t a major obstacle for him. The tortoise was passing through the thorns, relatively easily.
The tortoise, approximately at 1/3 of the route, surpassed the hare. The hare watching the tortoise passed him, was a little socked. “How is this possible?” he thought, “… after all, I am surely faster than the Tortoise” and because from his overconfidence, tried to increase the pace, to cover the difference.
By jumping faster and stronger, the hare made some good jumps, he reduced the difference, but many times because of his speed and of the dense with thorns road and insufficient visibility, he fell with his head on stones and remained unconscious for a while. Meanwhile, the tortoise was running with a slower pace but relatively stable; he had good visibility because of the slower pace ; even in some points of the route that were elevated ground levels, the tortoise patiently was picking small sticks of wood* and he made something like a staircase and climbed easily the different (elevated) ground levels**.
It was around the end of the second third of the route, as the hare was tired and even with bloody foot ; a wolf saw the hare and wanted to eat him ; the wolf tried to catch him but when the hare realized the danger, he found a hole and entered and saved his life ; but it was diverged from the route to save his life. Now he had to cover a larger distance…
The hare was already exhausted ; he started be anxious ; the tortoise was in front of him and the difference rather than decreasing, was increased. Now was left the last third of the route. If he wanted to win, he had to give everything, not to become a ridicule in front the other forest animals. Not thinking clearly, started to jump with whatever strength he had left but was so exhausted that he couldn’t even see the route clearly.
A fox show the exhausted hare and hide in a corner ; when the hare passed from there, the fox grab him with his teeth. The hare then knew that he gonna be the meal for the fox. In his last moments, the hare thought “Why I had so overconfidence? Why I started running carelessly, in such a rough route? Now, I’m losing my life…”
The wolf and the fox, tried also to catch (and eat) the tortoise along the way, but the tortoise hid in his shell, avoiding easily the dangers.
Finally the tortoise reached the end of the course and not just easily won the race, but was alive while the hare was dead…
>>>•<<<
Hare = Trader
Tortoise = Investor
* dividend
** reinvesting dividends
>>>•<<<
Moral of the story: Slow and steady, wins the race. The tortoise won because he was determined, did not stop for a second, was tough, disciplined, had a clear mind and had knowledge of the conditions and difficulties along the way. The hare although fast, however he lost because he was overconfident, thoughtless, he underestimated the difficulties along the way and was too ‘soft’ for the conditions. Eventually, the hare / trader loses his money and destroys any wealth he had.
Therefore, you must be investors!
Learn to invest!
