When Felix’s paw's touched the ground, there were hushed whispers all around him. Everyone was very surprised to see that Felix had missed the grapes!

“That was just a warmup!” Felix announced, and he turned around to look at the grapes. He shook off one leg at a time and then shook his whole body. “I’m faster than a rabbit and stronger than a bear. I’m smarter than an owl, and I can do this!” he told himself again before he started to run. He ran so fast that he could hear his heart beating in his ears and he felt the wind all around him. Then, he jumped again!

Again, he missed the grapes, and again, everyone was talking about him. They looked very worried that Felix would not be able to get the grapes. Felix felt embarrassed. Then, he saw something. He saw that if he ran and jumped on the tree, he could jump off of the tree trunk, kind of like a ball bouncing off of a wall! Then, maybe he could get it!

So, off Felix went again. He started running and running, as fast as his little muscles could, and he jumped! This time, everyone was surprised, for Felix had jumped at the tree instead of at the grapes! Could he not see what he was doing? But, they did not know what Felix’s plan was. Felix kicked off from the tree and flew toward the grapes. He was going even higher this time, and he was so close to the grapes! He opened up his mouth to catch the bunch of grapes and was so close that the grapes tickled his nose! But, again, Felix fell down, down, down, and away from the grapes. Felix landed on his back with a yelp. Now, Felix was very frustrated. He was very embarrassed. And, his back hurt. Felix was done trying. “Oh, forget it!” he shouted out as he turned around. “I don’t need those silly grapes, anyway!” He looked at all of the other animals that had gathered around him. “Don’t bother with them! They’re all sour anyway!” He frowned and huffed and stormed away from the group of people. He didn’t want grapes that weren’t ready!

As Felix ran away, all of the animals seemed surprised. But then, one little bunny spoke up. He hopped over to Bear and in his very quiet little voice, he said, “Excuse me, Mr. Bear?”

Mr. Bear looked down at the bunny.

“Could you please lift me up? I think I can maybe reach the grapes if you hold me up as high as you can!”

Mr. Bear looked at the bunny and then back up at the vine. “You know, little Bunny, I think you’re right!” said Mr. Bear. He smiled at the bunny and held out a very, very big paw. The bunny was so small that he could stand on the whole paw all by himself. Then, Mr. Bear lifted up the bunny, and sure enough, the bunny could reach it! So, the bunny picked off the bunch of grapes and they all shared it with each other while Felix the fox stayed away from everyone. The little bunny had offered Felix a grape too, but the fox shook his head. “I don’t need any sour grapes!” He announced as he ran away as fast as he could to be angry all by himself. And so, all of the other animals shared the most delicious grapes without him.

Once upon a time, in a forest far, far away, there was a great race every year. It happened on the first day of spring, when the new year’s blossoms were just beginning to wake up from their winter snooze, and when the sun was finally thawing out the frozen land. Every year, the fastest animals would all get together and challenge each other to a friendly race. The winner was the one who would get the first apple of the new year when it finally grew, and that was a grand prize, for the first apple of the year was always the sweetest, and they all said that it had good luck.

Every year, everyone always had the chance to join the race if they wanted to. Some animals would join, and others would stay home. Others would watch the race and cheer for their favorites. And every year, no matter who joined the race, Hubert Hare would always win. Hubert was a very fast hare, and he could run faster than anyone in the forest. He knew this, so he would always challenge everyone to beat him. But, because everyone knew that Hubert would win, fewer and fewer animals wanted to try.

One year, when everyone was preparing for spring, Olivia Owl was very busy gathering up the names of everyone that would be participating. She asked every animal if they wanted to race in the spring race, but every single animal said no! No one wanted to race against Hubert because they all knew that he would win, and he was a very sore winner. He would laugh at the losers. He would tell them that they are the worst runners ever, and he would hurt the feelings of everyone involved.

On that year, Olivia Owl talked to Barry the Bear and told him that she did not think that there would be a race. “You know,” said Olivia. “No one wants to race Hubert because he brags too much! They all say that it is no fun and that they do not want to! They would rather spend their day doing something better!”

“If only someone could race better than Hubert!” said Barry. He sighed. But, Barry and Olivia both knew that no one was faster than Hubert and that no one would ever be able to beat such a quick hare, no matter who they were! Hubert was undefeated!

“I can race,” said a slow, old voice. He sounded very slow and very shaky.

Olivia and Barry both turned around, and there, they saw Tommy the Tortoise! He was moving very, very slowly toward them. Both Olivia and Barry had to try very hard not to laugh. A tortoise against a hare? There would be no chance that Tommy could win at all! Everyone knew that tortoises were very slow and that they would never be able to run faster than a hare!

“If no one else is going to race, I will!” Tommy said, very slowly. “I do not want all of the spring fun to be ended because no one wanted to try! I am not afraid of losing.”

“If you say so,” said Barry and Olivia hooted in agreement. But, they needed someone for Hubert to race against, so they had no choice. They would have to let Tommy race, too!

On the days leading up to the race, the word got out very far. There was lots of talk about how a tortoise was going to race against the fastest animal that the forest had ever seen and everyone thought that was very funny. They did not believe that he would be able to win! But, they were willing to watch and see what happened. After all, anything was possible.