The Tortoise and The Hare
(Clutter-Style)

Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could get so much more done than anyone else, was forever teasing tortoise for its slowness.

Then one day, the tortoise answered back: “Who do you think you are? There’s no denying you’re swift, but even you can be beaten!” The hare squealed with laughter.

“Beaten in getting more done? By whom? Not you, surely! I bet there’s nobody in the world that can win against me, I’m so speedy. Now, why don’t you try?”

Annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. A race to clear off mounds of paperwork from their desks was planned, and the next day at dawn they stood in front of their piles.

The hare yawned sleepily as the tortoise picked up the first piece of paper.

When the hare saw how painfully slow his rival was, he decided, half asleep on his feet, to have a quick nap.

“Take your time!” he said. “I’ll have forty winks and catch up with you in a minute.”

The hare woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gazed round, looking for the tortoise. But the creature was only a short bit through the first pile, having barely covered a third of what was on his desk.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in a nearby field.

With a careless glance through the window at the tortoise, now halfway through his stacks, he decided to go for a quick Starbuck's run before rushing in to plow through his desk.

And smiling at the thought of the look on the tortoise’s face when it saw the hare get so much more done quickly, he enjoyed his delicious latte.

When the hare finally got back to his desk, he picked up the first piece of paper and got stuck trying to decide what to do with it, so he took a phone call instead, which led to three more phone calls and another trip to Starbuck's.

The sun started to sink, below the horizon, and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards having a cleaned off desk since morning, had only a dozen or so sheets of paper to go.

At that very point, the hare, walking back from getting his third cup of coffee, realized he had better get started.

He could see the tortoise a speck in the distance and away he dashed. He leapt and bounded at a great rate, rushing to his desk, his tongue lolling, and gasping for breath, tossing papers and files everywhere.

Just a little more and he’d be first to the finish.

But the hare’s last attempt was just too late, for the tortoise had beaten him and filed the very last piece of paper.

Poor hare!

Worn out, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him.

“Step by step does it every time.” said the tortoise.

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