The Tortoise and the Hare – A Modern Variation

 Terry and Jack worked in the same office. Jack was one of those good looking, athletic sorts of fellows. He was always seen around town with a different lady friend. His desk was always tidy and clean and he was always bragging about how he finished all his projects before they were due, and how well he did them. He worked out at the gym every day and spent quite a lot of money on his clothing – it always fit him perfectly and looked good on him. His teeth were capped, his hair was styled, and he always had a new joke to tell people. He looked good and he knew it. He was self-confidence personified.

Terry was quiet, and shy. He wore thick glasses and usually looked rather rumpled. He spent his lunch hour quietly at his desk, usually with a book. No one ever saw him out on the town. His desk was usually filled with papers and projects and he was always busy. He was always polite when people talked to him, but they usually snickered behind his back and called him “Geek” and “Nerd”. He just ignored them.

One day the boss called both Jack and Terry into his office.

“I have a big project,” he said. “It’s an important one. The success of this project could double the profits of this company in the next quarter. You two are my best workers. I want the two of you each to put together a presentation – the man whose ideas are chosen will receive a promotion and a big bonus. You have a week. Now get out there and get going!”

Jack looked at his boss and then gave Terry a sideways look and winced.

“What’s the matter, Jack, eat something for lunch that disagreed with you?”

“Huh? Oh, no sir, I mean, I was just…”

“Get going, Jack. If you’re as good as you say you are, you have this in the bag.”

As the two men turned to leave, the boss added, “By the way, Terry, nice job on that last project.”

Jack gave Terry a nasty look as Terry turned and thanked the boss quietly.

Both men hurried back to their cubicles to start work on the project.

For Terry, starting work on the project meant doing research on the project and all the work they had done for that company in the past.

For Jack, it meant stopping to gossip with the other office workers about how he had this one made – he would win it hands down. How could that Terry even begin to think he could compete with a winner like Jack? Why, hadn’t Jack graduated from one of the best colleges in the country? Terry had just gone to State. Jack had been here longer, too, and knew the company better… There were a hundred reasons that Terry should just give up and tuck his tail between his legs and run away home. He just wasn’t ready to play with the big boys! Jack laughed heartily and spent the rest of the afternoon planning how he would spend his bonus.

In his office, the boss smiled and leaned back in his chair. He had a pretty good idea how things would turn out, but it would be fun to watch it all develop. He liked to set up little challenges like this. It kept the workers on their toes.

For the next two days, both men worked on research and began to plan their presentations. Jack would pop into a co-worker’s cubicle and toss a few ideas around and bask in the admiration of his peers. Terry stayed in his own workspace and worked diligently.

By the fourth day, Jack had actually settled into his cubical and appeared to be working diligently. Terry, of course, had been doing this all along. However, if someone looked carefully at what Jack was doing, they would discover that he was really playing solitaire on his computer. He also spent some time on the phone, asking out a different girl every night.

Finally, it was the last day. Terry had an enormous pile of papers on his desk and a portfolio full of his presentation. Still, he stayed at his desk and worked. Jack also had a portfolio full of his presentation. However, his desk was clean and tidy. It didn’t look like he had worked on anything.

The two men went into the boss’s office to give their presentations. Jack went first. His presentation was a little rough around the edges, but the overall thing was brilliant. His ideas sparkled as brightly as his capped teeth. He smiled and gestured with great flourishes and generally was very impressive. Clearly, he was just as good as he said he was. At last he sat down with a satisfied look on his face. “Over to you, Terry old man,” he said.

Terry nervously set up his presentation. It was finished, polished, and every bit as brilliant as Jack’s presentation. His wasn’t a theatrical presentation, but it was calm and competent. He obviously knew what he was talking about. Jack grew more and more nervous as it went on, fidgeting in his chair and running his fingers through his hair.

Finally, Terry came to the last point. 

“And to sum it all up,” he said, “I think that you should go with Jack’s ideas. His presentation was good, his ideas were brilliant, and I think he should win.” Terry set down his pointer and stood there with a slight smile on his face.

Jack looked at him with his mouth gaping open. “Look here, I agree with you that I should win and everything, but what the hell?”

“Indeed, Terry, why are you saying this? Your presentation was excellent as well. You two are my best workers, even though you are quite different in style.” The boss frowned and leaned forward. “And if this is some gimmick to make me choose you, it is certainly going to backfire on you!”

Terry shook his head and said, “No, it’s not that. It’s just that while I was researching the company I found out what a great company it is. It was wonderful benefits, really nice people, and better pay. I applied for a job there, interviewed yesterday, and this morning they called to tell me I got the job. I don’t want to win this because I won’t be here. I’ll get better pay, an office of my own, and lots of the people are – well, they’re like me. What you call geeky. The atmosphere there seems to be much nicer and more tolerant and people like to work together on things. I’ll be much happier there. So, this is my two weeks’ notice.” He placed an envelope on the boss’s desk. Then he turned to Jack, who was still sitting there with his mouth falling open. “Jack, I wish you the best of luck in your new position! I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Terry picked up his things and whistled a little tune as he left the office, nodding at the boss as he went.

The Ferry Woman and the Whale

.

 

We sailed into Duwamish Bay at sunset. The waters of the Bay were calm, reflecting pink and orange. I have always thought sunset was a magical time of day, and it was a perfect time to come to Duwamish. All the little buildings were stained pink and orange and the boats were all neatly moored – the day fishermen were back in and the night fishermen hadn’t left for the evening yet.

 

Mothers were calling children home for dinner, and sea birds were just now swooping down to the bay for one last drink before they nested for the night. The fertility carnival that I had heard about had paused for the evening meal. Everything was peaceful in that suspended moment between day and night when it is neither. The clouds in the deep middle of the sky changed to dark purple and then the boats of the ferry women came home to roost, steering into the harbor from all their various destinations. As I stood on the quay, I could see their outlines on their ferry boats, darker against the darkening sky. As the sky on the edge of the horizon shaded to deepest pink, I listened to the slap of the waves against the pilings and breathed the fish-salt smell peculiar to docks.

 

Hoisting my backpack on to my shoulders, I went in search of a place to stay for the night, and a place to eat- the lovely food smells from the carnival were making my belly rumble with complaints.

The good hosts of the Duwamish Bay Inn had a room for me, and a satisfying dinner. While I was eating, several of the ferry women came in to have some dinner before they began their night trips over to the Isle of the Ancestors.

 

I said hello, and one of them came over to sit with me.

 

“So, another seeker, eh?” she asked.

 

“Yes, I am.” I answered.

 

“That’s a good thing. We all need to seek, to find out what’s in ourselves.” She nodded approvingly. “I was a seeker once, myself. It was long ago, of course.” She smiled.

 

Frankly, I thought it couldn’t have been all that long ago. She didn’t look very old at all.

 

She caught the look on my face and laughed heartily. “Looks can be deceiving, love! I’m as old as time itself some days and others I’m only as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth! I wasn’t too terribly old, though, until the day of the whale.” She shook her head, reminiscing. “Ah, yes, the day of the whale.” She looked at me again, and asked, “Would you like to hear the story of the day I met the whale?”

 

Of course I would. I’m always up for a good story. I signaled the innkeeper to bring us a pitcher of the best beer, to keep her throat well oiled and mine relaxed and happy, and the ferry woman settled in to tell her tale.

 

“Now you know, don’t you, that whales are very old and wise creatures? They lived on the land once and then saw what a fine thing the sea had been and went back to it. They perform ballets and concerts in the deeps, just for the pleasure of it, and don’t worry about leaving their mark on the world. They just live and love life, for the most part. But sometimes, something goes wrong. A whale just loses heart, doesn’t want to go on free and open in the sea. He thinks living on the land again is what he wants, so he can live like a man and worry all the time about this and that and what’ll he do that’s great that others will know him for. Then the whale goes and beaches himself, grinds himself right up on the shore, like he thinks he can just walk back out on land and take up where he left off.” She shook her head. “It’s a sad thing, it is. The thing about the whales, is they’re old, like I said, and they carry all that time right inside of them. When a whale tries to go back to the land and beach himself, all that time catches right up with him. Now, people think the whales die because they’re out of the water, but that’s not all of it. No sir, one of the reasons they die is all that time that they carry without trouble in the sea when they don’t care about it. Once they try to live on the land again, all the worries and cares of the land make all that time come crashing down on them and they just get old and die right then and there.”

 

“Well, one day I was out on my ferry, coming back to Duwamish, to be exact, and I spied a whale. He was all by himself, floating along, not diving and playing like they like to do. He was just lying there on top of the water, mist coming out of his blowhole as he breathed, not doing anything. I was a little worried, because he wasn’t acting normal, so I pulled alongside of him, and asked, ‘Whale! Are you all right?’

 

Well, he didn’t answer right away, so I asked him again, ‘Whale! Hey, you! Are you all right?’ 

 

This time he answered me. ‘I am thinking.’ Now, whales do think, but usually, they think way down deep in the sea, where it’s quiet and dark. I was a little bit worried about this fellow thinking right up here on the surface.

 

‘Oh!’ I said, ‘Might I ask what you are thinking about?’

 

‘I am thinking that I have done nothing with my life, Ferry Woman. I have made no mark upon the world, and it will have nothing to remember me by.’

 

Well, I knew we were in trouble now. The next thing you know, he would be finding some stretch of sand to beach himself on, trying to go back to the land. I knew this wasn’t good. If anything, we should be more like the whales; they shouldn’t try to be more like us. We do enough worrying for all the creatures in the world for all times just in one day!

 

Any how, I thought to myself that I needed to put a stop to this before it went any further.

 

‘Whale, why would you think that?’ I asked, “You have a fine and wonderful life under the waves. You live and love and dance and sing- why I happen to know you even tell tales to each other. You care for one another; you create for the joy of it. What else is there that anyone could want in this life?’

The whale moaned softly. ‘I don’t know. It just feels like I am missing something,’ he said. ‘Men do things that other men will remember them for. They make stashes of things, like that strange money stuff, and they and others think they are better for it. Shouldn’t we all want this?’

 

I replied, ‘Whales do things other whales remember them for,’ I reminded him. ‘You tell about it in tales and songs and dances. You may not collect things, but you are rich in lore and in time. Men have no time because they waste it all on worry and fuss about abstract things like money and fame and power. Trust me whale, you have the right of it. Stay with your sea, your dances and songs and companionship. Your life is the better of the two. I can say this, I who am a woman – yet I live on the sea, keeping my way of life as like to that of you whales as I can.’

 The whale ducked his head under the water and then blew a plume of spray into the air. ‘I will think on what you have said, Ferry Woman. Bide with me while I do.’

 

So I drifted there, a night, a day and a night, and yet another day, while the whale thought.

 

Finally he said, ‘I think you have the right of it, Ferry Woman, I have had the better life all these years, and I would have thrown it all away. I thank you.’

 

‘You’re welcome, whale. I am very glad I could help.’ And I was, for I believed every word I had spoken to him to be true.

 

Then the whale spoke again. ‘I fear that I owe you an apology, though. In my thinking and worrying, I allowed some of my time to get loose, and it tried to catch up with me. Because you were here, concerned for me, you took it instead. Fortunately, it wasn’t a lot, but you may be a bit older than you were.’

 

The whale was very embarrassed over this, but I thought about it for a minute or two, and then said, ‘Whale, I have never been vain about my looks, so it won’t bother me on that score, and then, I have always thought wisdom comes with time, so that isn’t so bad either. My body feels as strong as ever, so it hasn’t damaged me like that. I think I will be fine. And if I can live like a whale and not worry over silly land things, well, that I may be able to hold much of that time in me like a whale does, and that is a good thing. Now I have a reason to live like you do!’ I laughed delightedly and so did the whale. ‘Well met!’ he called out and dove, waving good-bye with his tail. I continued back to Duwamish Bay.

 

Everyone here wanted to know where I had been, and I just told them I had been visiting with a whale and left it at that. Sometimes I still see him, and he always dances around me for a while before he leaves again. As for me, I try to live like the whales do, live and love and create, and do all of these for the joy of it. And do you know, it must be working, because that time, I’m still holding it in me, and it’s been years now!” The Ferry Woman smiled, finished her beer.

 

I was thoughtful after her story. This was something to ponder. The Ferry Woman got up to leave and told me to that if I wanted her to take me somewhere, just look for the ferry called the Song of the Deep. That one was hers. I thanked her and she went off to join her companions.

 

Ivan and the Compass- A Youngest Son Tale

“As long as you have a compass, you will never be lost!” Father told Sasha. Ivan was listening from behind the bushes. He didn’t mean to be, but he had been back there eating the pastry he had snitched from the kitchen when Father came along talking to Sasha. Sasha was going hunting in the forest with Father tomorrow. The two went on down the path to the pasture, and Ivan didn’t hear any more. Still, he thought about what he had heard. A compass sounded like a wondrous, magical thing. With one you would never get lost!

Ivan got lost a lot. He was always getting in trouble for wandering off. Sometimes he was lost to himself, sometimes just to Mother and Father. Still, it was a problem.

Ivan finished his ill-gotten pastry and wandered back to the house. He almost went to see the geese in the pond out in the pasture instead, but he remembered that last time he did that. Mother thought he had drowned because he took off his shoes to try and catch a gosling and Father had found them, but not him, because by then he was crouched in the reeds, trying to catch a frog. When Ivan got home, late and shoeless,  Mother had been crying, with her apron over her head, and Father had been looking very stern. When they found out he was not drowned, he had been sent to bed without his supper. Sasha and Ilya had laughed.

When he got there, everyone was busy. Sasha and Father were milking the cows, Mother was making dinner, and Ilya was doing his schoolwork. Ilya was a good scholar, and had won a place at the big school in town.

Ivan knew if anyone saw him, they would put him to work, so he went up into the hayloft to look for the kittens the old tabby had had last month. He thought about taking a walk to see if he could find a buried treasure, but the last time he did that he wound up in the woods, and had missed dinner trying to find his way out. Father had come to find him, and was angry with Ivan for getting lost. Mother had been crying with her apron over her head, and Sasha and Ilya had laughed at him for looking for treasure and getting lost. Father had made him go to bed without anything again, although since he had already missed supper, Ivan hadn’t thought this was such a problem. He hadn’t wanted a cold dinner, anyway.

He couldn’t find any kittens, so Ivan slipped through the parlor window into the house and tiptoed up the stairs. Ilya was still at his studies. Ivan sat quietly and watched him for a while. Sometimes if Ilya was doing history or literature, he would tell Ivan tales from what he was learning. Ivan liked that. But tonight, Ilya was playing with a little tool, making circles on paper, and measuring them. After he watched for a while, Ivan got bored. He finally asked, “What is that thing you are using?”

Ilya replied, “It’s just a compass.”

Ivan’s heart raced. It was a compass, that magical thing that meant you could never get lost. He wondered why Ilya was using it, and was going to ask, when Mother called, “Dinner!” and they both ran down the stairs to eat.

After dinner, Mother and Father caught Ivan before he could get away and made him do his chores, which he had neglected all day, until bedtime. By the time he went upstairs to sleep, Ilya had the compass put away in his schoolbag, and Ivan forgot to ask him about it.

The next morning, Ivan was awake early, before his brothers. He saw the little silver compass peaking out of Ilya’s school bag. Today wasn’t a school day. Perhaps he could get away with borrowing it, just for a while, so he could go out for a bit without getting lost and in trouble. He dressed quickly, and had just slipped the compass in his pocket when Father came upstairs to get Sasha so they could go hunting.

Father and Sasha were in a hurry, and didn’t notice anything. Father told Ivan to be good, and not to worry his mother that day just this once, and they left. Ivan had no intention of worrying his mother. He had the magic compass, so he wouldn’t get lost, and mother would never know.

He left Ilya sleeping and slipped downstairs to grab some bread, cheese and a lovely red apple to put in his pockets, and he was off. Father and Sasha had gone to the big forest, so Ivan thought that he would just go the woods on the other side of the village. It wouldn’t make for quite as good an adventure, but it couldn’t be helped. He didn’t want to meet up with Father and Sasha. They would scold him and send him home. They might even take the magical compass for themselves!

Ivan slipped through the fields beside the village. He did not go through the village, because if anyone saw him, they would stop him and send him home, saying he would get lost and he shouldn’t worry his parents. It took a little longer that way, but he was soon in the cool shade of the trees, where the underbrush was trampled by people looking for firewood. He went a little deeper in and whistled a happy little tune. He was off on an adventure for certain, today!

He walked beneath the trees, watching small animals scurry away, and listening to the birds sing. He splashed through a small stream and chased a blue dragonfly into a meadow full of flowers. Then he sat down on a rock and ate his bread and cheese. Spying some berry bushes across the way, he went to pick some to wash down the bread and cheese. They were very good, and he was happily plucking and eating berries when he heard a snuffling behind him.

Little boys aren’t the only ones who like berries, and when he turned around, Ivan saw that bears like them too. The bear clearly did not want to share the berry bushes with Ivan and was coming closer, and growling.

Ivan thought, “I do not want to lose my life to this bear, but the if the compass keeps me from getting lost, perhaps it will keep me from losing my life!” So he whipped out the compass, and spread it out and spun around in a circle just as he had see Ilya do, but in the air. A large circle appeared where the compass had spun and fell to the ground. It was a huge berry pie! Ivan reached down, grabbed the pie, and tossed it towards the bear.

Now the bear knew a good thing when he saw it and stopped to slurp up the pie. Ivan scooted into the bushes and away down a path until he was well away from the berry bushes and the bear.

Since he was on the path, he decided to follow it and see where it went. He walked happily along it until he came to a large stream. He was delighted. This was just the right size stream to try tickling trout. Sasha and Ilya had told him all about tickling trout. You had to be ever so still and slip your hand under them and gently rub their bellies until they weren’t suspecting anything and then scoop them out of the water as fast as you could.

Ivan promptly lay down on his belly on the bank to see if he could tickle a trout.

He did not see a trout, or any other fish for that matter, and he squirmed closer to the water, and closer still to see if he could see one. He squirmed closer yet again, when splash! He wiggled right over the edge and into the stream.

Now the stream was deeper and faster than it looked and Ivan found that he could not touch the bottom and the bank was moving away quickly. He could swim a little- Father had taught him after thinking he had drowned in the goose pond- and so the kept his head above the water while he felt for the compass. He pulled it out, swirled it around in the water, and all of a sudden he felt something underneath him.

A large lily pad was coming up under him, and soon folded around him like a huge cup. He was floating along on top of the stream in a lily pad boat! This was fun! Ivan happily bobbed along down the stream and when it joined up with the river, he decided to see where that took him for a while. He floated past the fields and beyond the little village and soon was floating through the forest. He saw a sandy beach ahead, and by paddling with his hand, managed to land his lily boat there.  When he hopped out, the lily pad floated off, and Ivan was on his own again.

Now, Ivan knew that Father and Sasha were hunting in the forest today, but he decided that since the forest was such a big place that they probably wouldn’t meet up. So, he started off into the big, tall trees to see what he could find there.

After a little bit, Ivan heard a snuffling and snorting sound. “Not another bear!” he thought, but then he came round a big tree and saw that it was not a bear, but a wild boar. Ivan had heard tales about wild boar, and knew how dangerous they were. He backed up slowly, before it could see him, and climbed into one of the enormous forest trees. He sat on a limb, watching the boar, and wondering what he was going to do. He took out his apple and ate it while he thought.

Then Ivan heard voices. It was Father and Sasha, and they were coming this way! Ivan was struck with terror with the thought that the boar might go after Father and Sasha. He threw down the rest of his apple to distract the boar. Thinking quickly, he pulled out his compass and, stretching it out as wide as it would go, twirled it in the air. A very large circle floated down from Ivan’s perch in the tree and landed on the path below, between the boar and Father and Sasha. It kept floating downward, and suddenly there was a large pit in the middle of the path.

The boar heard the people coming down the path and charged towards them- and right into the pit.

“What was that noise?” asked Father. “It sounded just like a wild boar!”

“I hope not,” replied Sasha nervously.

Ivan put his hands over his mouth so they would not hear him giggling in the tree over their heads.

“Look!” cried Father. “I don’t remember this pit being on this path, but it has caught a boar for us!”

As they set about getting the boar out of the pit and preparing to haul it away, Ivan crept down the tree and away from the path. He was getting hungry, and tired- it must be time for lunch by now- and he was ready to go home. He pulled out his trusty compass and twirled it in the air one more time. A stream of sparkling lights flew from the compass and off through the trees. Ivan followed at a jog and soon found himself very near home. The lights twinkled out and Ivan walked the rest of the way happily. Truly, he had had a wonderful day, and not gotten lost once, thanks to the magical compass.

When he came into the kitchen, Mother was just putting out lunch on the table. She scolded him, “Where have you been all morning? I thought you had gotten lost again! And look at you! What a mess you are! Go and wash and put on clean clothes right now, before you come to  this table!” Ivan ran off to change before she could ask him any more questions.

When he came back down the stairs, Father and Sasha were back. “You should see the grand boar we found in a pit in the woods! We are taking it to the village for a big pig roast!” boomed Father. Ilya came in from inspecting the boar and caught sight of Ivan, and the compass in Ivan’s pocket.

“Ivan! What are you doing with my compass? I have been looking all over for it! This is not a toy for you to play with!” cried Ilya.

Ivan said, “But Father says that if you have a compass you will never get lost, so since people always fuss at me about getting lost, I thought it might be a good thing for me!”

Ilya snatched it away and answered, “This is not the same kind of compass. This one is for geometry, for making circles!”

Father laughed and said, “Yes, Ivan, the other sort of compass is this,” and he took out a small case with letters in a circle and a small arrow in the middle. “this one always shows you which way is north. It is not magical, though. You must know the direction you need to go. Although I wish there were a magical compass for you, little one, with the way you like to get lost!” and he laughed.

Ivan opened his mouth to tell Father that he was wrong, Ilya’s was a magical compass, but then he closed it again. Sometimes it wasn’t worth it to try to tell big people anything.

“Hey!” said Ilya, “What have you done with this! It is filthy. Look, I found berry bits on it, and water weed stuck in it, and dirt in it, too. And what’s this sparkly stuff all over the ends?”

Ivan just smiled.