The Tortoise and the Steeds 跛鱉千里

In English there is a well-known fable about a race between a tortoise and a hare. The Chinese version involves a lame turtle and 6 mighty steeds. The story is inspired by the popular Chinese idiom 跛鱉千里 (bo3 bie1 qian1 li3) which literally means the lame turtle goes a thousand miles.

Many years ago there were six steeds living in the mountains of central China. One day they decided to leave the mountains in search of greener pastures. But not long after beginning their journey they encountered a forest and there was no obvious road through. The horses were trying to decide which way to go when they heard a greeting from a crippled turtle coming up behind them. The horses asked the turtle wher he was headed. The turtle replied that he was heading for an animal paradise about one to two thousand miles away in the south. The horses told the turtle that they thought he would never get there moving a such a snail's pace. However, the turtle was not perturbed and told the horses that as long as he kept moving forward he would eventually reach his destination.

After the conversation, the turtle continued his long march. The steeds began to argue among themselves about how they could find a short-cut to the paradise. The argument between the horses went on and on. Meanwhile, the turtle kept plodding south and after 3 years eventually reached the legendary paradise. However the turtle could not find the 6 steeds he had met in the woods. He kept his eyes peeled for them, but the steeds never arrived.

The moral of the story is that even those in poor conditions can still achieve their goals with hard work and persistance.