I re-read this story so many times in my primary school days. The fable was refreshingly narrated to our Form 2N class by our beloved Physics Teacher, Mr.Mwania R.K (at Kitondo High School) around the year 2006. He meant to advise us to stick solely to academics then.
Retold from Aesop(Aesop was a writer from Ancient Greece, who is thought to have lived around 600 years BC, and is credited with having written a number of well-known fables. Accounts of his life often refer to him having been a slave, who gains his freedom through the strength of the advice he gives to his masters).
One day a cat and a hare were having a conversation. The hare, who was a conceited creature, boasted how clever she was. ‘Why, I know at least a hundred tricks to get away from our mutual enemies, the dogs,’ she said. ‘I know only one trick to get away from dogs,’ said the cat. ‘You should teach me some of yours!’‘ Well, maybe someday, when I have the time, I may teach you a few of the simpler ones,’ replied the hare airily.
Just then they heard the barking of a pack of dogs in the distance. The barking grew louder and louder – the dogs were coming in their direction! At once the cat ran to the nearest tree and climbed into its branches, well out of reach of any dog. ‘This is the trick I told you about, the only one I know,’ she called down to the hare. ‘Which one of your hundred tricks are you going to use?’
The hare sat silently under the tree, wondering which trick she should use. Before she could make up her mind, the dogs arrived. They fell upon the hare and tore her to pieces.
Lesson:
“A single plan that works is better than a hundred doubtful plans” or “Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon”
