Last week someone broke my heart by inviting me to write a short story including body

idioms. You will understand this invitation did not fall on deaf ears. Although I felt a bit
weak at the knees in the beginning, my gut feeling tells me this story of two animals who
are not particularly joined at the hip, will have legs after such a surprising climax. Have
fun!

The Tortoise and the Hare

        One day a hare was bragging about how fast he could run. He bragged and bragged
and even laughed at the tortoise, who was so slow. He could talk the hind legs off a
donkey. The tortoise stuck out his long neck and challenged the hare to a race, which, of
course, made the hare laugh and showed the tortoise that he was all ears.

       "My, my, what a joke!" thought the hare. This will not put too much weight on my
shoulders. In fact, it will be a piece of cake.
     "A race, indeed, a race. Oh! what fun! My, my! a race, of course, Mr. Tortoise, we
shall race!" said the hare.

     The forest animals met and mapped out the course. The race began, they shook a leg
and the hare, being such a swift runner, soon left the tortoise far behind. The tortoise
had to put his money where his mouth was, so he continued this very demanding, breath
taking and arduous journey. He decided to stick to the job and kept his fingers crossed
for an outstanding result. About halfway through the course, it occurred to the hare that
he had plenty of time to beat the slow trodden tortoise.

       "Oh, my!" thought the hare, "I have plenty of time to play in the meadow here."
This job will not cost me arm and leg, he thought.
     And so he did play in the meadow.

     Nevertheless, playing took a serious amount of time, the hare considered that he had
some time left to take a little nap. "I have plenty of time to beat that tortoise," he
thought. And he cuddled up against a tree and dozed. Nothing got out of hand so far.

     The tortoise, in the meantime, continued to plod on, albeit, ever so slowly. He never
stopped, but took one good step after another and kept his eye on his aim to win the
race.

    The hare finally woke from his nap. "Time to get going," he thought. He shook a leg
and went faster than he had ever run before! He dashed as quickly as anyone ever could
up to the finish line, where he met the tortoise, who was patiently awaiting his arrival.
The tortoise asked the hare if he would have needed a head start. Now he was pulling
the hare’s leg, of course. He promised to keep his lips sealed about the ending when the
other animals asked for it. After a period of time the tortoise started to regard this
gentlemen’s agreement as a pain in the neck. Even though he had put his foot in his
mouth, regarding the language he used, he enjoyed every moment of his victory and had
already itchy feet to race a cheetah or a gazelle, eat your heart out, hare!

Slow and steady wins the race.