<P> In the 19th century and after the fable was given satirical interpretations . In the social commentary of Charles H. Bennett's The Fables of Aesop translated into Human Nature (1857), the hare is changed to a thoughtful craftsman prostrate under the foot of a capitalist entrepreneur . Lord Dunsany brings out another view in his "The True History of the Tortoise and the Hare" (1915). There the hare realises the stupidity of the challenge and refuses to proceed any further . The obstinate tortoise continues to the finishing line and is proclaimed the swiftest by his backers . But, continues Dunsany, </P> <Dl> <Dd> the reason that this version of the race is not widely known is that very few of those that witnessed it survived the great forest - fire that happened shortly after . It came up over the weald by night with a great wind . The Hare and the Tortoise and a very few of the beasts saw it far off from a high bare hill that was at the edge of the trees, and they hurriedly called a meeting to decide what messenger they should send to warn the beasts in the forest . They sent the Tortoise . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> the reason that this version of the race is not widely known is that very few of those that witnessed it survived the great forest - fire that happened shortly after . It came up over the weald by night with a great wind . The Hare and the Tortoise and a very few of the beasts saw it far off from a high bare hill that was at the edge of the trees, and they hurriedly called a meeting to decide what messenger they should send to warn the beasts in the forest . They sent the Tortoise . </Dd> <P> In Classical times the story was annexed to a philosophical problem by Zeno of Elea in one of many demonstrations that movement is impossible to define satisfactorily . The second of Zeno's paradoxes is that of Achilles and the Tortoise, in which the hero gives the Tortoise a head start in a race . The argument attempts to show that even though Achilles runs faster than the Tortoise, he will never catch up with her because, when Achilles reaches the point at which the Tortoise started, the Tortoise has advanced some distance beyond; when Achilles arrives at the point where the Tortoise was when Achilles arrived at the point where the Tortoise started, the Tortoise has again moved forward . Hence Achilles can never catch the Tortoise, no matter how fast he runs, since the Tortoise will always be moving ahead . </P>

The parable of the tortoise and the hare