Hare

Hare is a recurring figure in the collection’s animal fables, used to test the distance between a stated ideal and the realities of power. Its roles vary: it is a steady competitor who defeats a faster rival, vulnerable prey caught in another creature’s pursuit, and a timid voice imagining equality among the weak and strong. Together, these appearances make the Hare a measure of both what resolve can achieve and what power can still put at risk.

Identity and Narrative Functions

The preface describes the Hare as a familiar animal type associated with timidity, part of a broader practice of giving fictional animals recognizable traits while using them to represent human motives and passions. That convention does not confine the Hare to one function. In one fable it keeps moving when a confident rival stops; in others its vulnerability makes it an emblem of the weak, whose hopes and safety depend on circumstances beyond its control.

The preface also cautions that not every item in the collection meets the ideal of a tightly unified fable, in which the moral follows naturally from a simple action. The Hare’s appearances illustrate the form’s range: a direct contest can yield an explicit maxim, while a political scene can end on a gesture that complicates the promise expressed in dialogue.

The Race Against the Tortoise

In “The Hare and the Tortoise,” the Hare ridicules the Tortoise’s short feet and slow pace. The Tortoise answers that she can win a race, and the Hare accepts because he considers the claim impossible. They agree that the Fox will select the course and set the goal, placing the contest on an agreed route rather than leaving its terms to either competitor.

On race day, the Hare starts alongside the Tortoise but lies down by the wayside and falls asleep. The Tortoise does not stop; she continues at a slow, steady pace until she reaches the goal and dozes there after the effort. The Hare wakes and runs as fast as he can, only to find that the finish has already been reached. The fable closes with the maxim “Slow but steady wins the race.” Its reversal turns the Hare’s speed from an apparent guarantee of victory into an advantage wasted through overconfidence and delay.

Prey and Escape

In “The Lion and the Hare,” the Hare is asleep when a Lion comes across it and is just about to seize it. A fine young Hart passes, and the Lion leaves the Hare to pursue the larger animal. The noise wakes the Hare, which scurries away. After a long chase, the Lion fails to catch the Hart and returns to feed on the Hare, only to discover that it too has escaped.

The Lion recognizes that he has let go of food already within reach for the chance of obtaining more. The episode makes the Hare’s survival depend not on overcoming the Lion in a contest, but on the interruption created by the Lion’s choice and on its own escape once awakened. In contrast with the race, where the Hare’s confidence undermines its advantage, here the Lion’s appetite for a greater prize gives the vulnerable animal an opening.

Equality and Political Power

In “The Kingdom of the Lion,” a just and gentle Lion proclaims an assembly of birds and beasts and establishes terms for a universal league. The proposed peace would allow traditional antagonists—including the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, and the Dog and the Hare—to live together in amity. The Hare welcomes the prospect of a day when the weak can stand beside the strong without fear, then runs for its life.

That abrupt flight leaves the proclamation’s ideal and the Hare’s conduct side by side. The scene does not show the league being broken or explain why the Hare runs; it shows that the promise of safety has not, in that moment, displaced the animal’s fear. In “The Hares and the Lions,” the Hares take a more direct political stance: they argue before an assembly that all should be equal. The Lions reply that the argument is sound but the Hares lack the claws and teeth the Lions possess. The exchange gives physical power the final practical word, setting persuasive claims against the means to enforce them.

Form and Significance

The collection’s preface defines the fable as a short narrative that uses fictional characters to convey instruction about human motives and conduct. It emphasizes that animal characters should retain traits recognized by popular convention even as they represent human qualities. The Hare’s familiar timidity serves that design, but the stories place it in distinct situations rather than making every appearance repeat the same lesson.

Across those situations, the Hare’s relation to power changes in emphasis. The racer loses through misplaced confidence; the sleeping Hare survives because a predator turns elsewhere; the Hare in the royal league voices hope for equality but immediately flees; and the assembled Hares face a blunt reminder that equality in argument does not itself supply strength. The resulting portrait is neither simply triumphant nor simply helpless: it shows how persistence can defeat speed, while vulnerability remains exposed wherever another creature controls the terms.