A fox was one day walking along the bank of a river when he met a Crab. “Good morning, Mr. Crab,” said he. “Don’t you ever get tired of creeping over the ground?”
“No,” replied the Crab, “because it is as natural for me to crawl as it is for you to run; and I can cover the ground very quickly, too, when it is necessary.”
The Fox laughed at him, and said, sneeringly: “I think you are very slow and very stupid. I have only four legs, while you have twice as many, and yet I can run ten times as fast and as far as you can.”
Then the Crab said: “But see how much bigger you are; if you were as small as I am, you would probably not travel any more quickly than I do. Perhaps I am very slow and very stupid, but if you will allow me to hang a weight on that fine tail of yours, to hold it down, I challenge you to as long a race as you care to run.”
The Fox thought he might just as well teach the stupid Crab a lesson, so, in a voice filled with contempt, he said: “When you ask me to race with you, even with any handicap you like, you show how little understanding you have. You have many legs and no sense, while I have four legs and am known to be the wisest inhabitant of the forest. Even human beings refer to me as the slyest of the sly.”
But again the Crab offered to race with him if he would but allow him to hang a weight on his tail, so that it would stay down. The Fox laughed at him, saying that he was foolish to think that he could win a race between them under any conditions; but as the Crab repeated the offer, the Fox at last consented.
So the Crab said: “When I have secured it to your tail, I will say ‘Ready!’ and that will be the signal to start, then go as fast as you like.”
With this the Crab went behind the Fox, and firmly gripped his tail with his pincers. Then he called out, “Ready!”
The Fox began to run; he ran until he was tired, and then stopped to rest. To his surprise he heard the Crab say: “Well, Mr. Fox, with all your boasting, you haven’t beaten me yet!”
“This is very strange,” said the Fox to himself, “but if I am tired, I know the Crab must be a great deal more so.” He started off again, and ran until he was almost out of breath. Feeling sure that the Crab was now far behind, he lay down on the ground, panting.
If he had been surprised to hear the Crab’s voice when he stopped before, how much more so was he now, when the Crab said: “Ha, ha! Mr. Braggart, you seem to be winded. Come, let us go on with the race.” He got upon his feet, and the Crab, who had released his grip from the Fox’s tail, crawled up in front of him, looking just as fresh as when they began the race.
The Fox looked at him, and then, without a word, slunk away, his head bowed in shame.