The Wolf and the Tortoise (The Race of the Slow and the Swift)
Xhosa folktale · iintsomi
Kwesukasukela. The tortoise, uFudo, was the slowest of all creatures, and the other animals mocked his crawling pace. One day a swift animal, in some tellings the hare and in others the wolf-like predator, boasted that no creature alive could ever beat him in a race. The tortoise quietly accepted the challenge, to the laughter of all the beasts. But the tortoise was wise as well as slow. He gathered his many tortoise-kin, who all looked alike, and stationed them at intervals all along the racecourse, hidden in the grass, with one waiting near the finish. When the race began, the swift animal sped ahead, but each time he called out mockingly to the tortoise, a tortoise answered from just ahead of him, for one of the kin would lift its head from the grass. Astonished and exhausted, the swift one ran himself ragged trying to overtake a tortoise that always seemed to be in front. At last he collapsed near the finish, and there sat a tortoise, calm and unhurried, declared the winner. Thus the despised slow creature humbled the proud swift one through patience and clever cooperation. Cosu cosu, iyaphela.
The lesson: Boastful pride is no match for patience, wit, and the help of one's kin; never despise the slow and humble.