Kira the Leopard was the fastest hunter on the mountain. She was so proud of her speed that she would make the other animals race her for their dinner. If they lost, she took their food. Since she always won, everyone was stays hungry while Kira grew fat and lazy.
One day, she cornered a Tortoise named Barnaby near a patch of sweet desert melons.
“Race me to the Great Cactus, old slow-paws,” Kira mocked, unsheathing her claws. “If I win, I eat all your melons. If you win… well, we both know you won’t.”
Barnaby looked at the long, steep hill. He knew he couldn’t outrun a sneeze, let alone a Leopard. But he looked at the loose, round Pebbles covering the path and had an idea.
“I accept,” Barnaby said quietly. “But as the challenged party, I choose the ‘Mountain Rule.’ We must race with the Stone of Silence in our mouths. The first one to reach the cactus without dropping their stone wins.”
Kira laughed. “Easy! I can carry a boulder and still beat you.”
Barnaby picked up a small, flat, ordinary pebble. Kira, wanting to show off, picked up a large, heavy, smooth river stone that stretched her jaws wide.
“Ready… set… GO!” Barnaby chirped.
Kira bolted. She was like a streak of yellow lightning. But as she sprinted down the rocky slope, the heavy stone in her mouth began to bounce. Because her jaws were stretched so wide, she couldn’t grip it tightly without biting her own tongue.
Clack! The stone slipped. Kira skidded to a halt, turned around, and scooped it up. She started again, but the faster she ran, the more the stone rattled against her teeth. She had to slow down just to keep it from falling.
Meanwhile, Barnaby wasn’t running. He tucked his legs into his shell and rolled. Because he was round and the hill was steep, he started picking up speed. The small pebble was tucked safely in a tiny gap in his beak. He went whizzing past the Leopard like a bowling ball.
Kira tried to roar in surprise, but as soon as she opened her mouth to yell, the heavy stone fell out and rolled all the way down into a deep crevice.
“My stone!” she cried. She had to stop and spend ten minutes fishing it out with her paw. By the time she got it and limped to the finish line, Barnaby was already there, slowly finishing the last of the sweet melons.
“Speed is good, Kira,” Barnaby said, wiping his beak. “But choosing a weight you can actually carry is better.”
The Moral: Overconfidence makes a simple task feel like a heavy burden.
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