Ethan's Politically Correct Tortoise and the Hare Tale

The “Politically Correct” Tortoise and the Hare

            Once upon a time, there lived a tortoise.  This tortoise was very much omitted from the

normal circles of physical activity due to a restriction upon his rate of mobility.  This unhappy

truth led to a good deal of negative commentary from his socially inexpert neighbor, the hare. 

This infringement upon the tortoise’s comfort led him to a suggestion.  “My dear friend, I

wonder whether you would accept an invitation to test your expertise in a physical endeavor.” 

The hare, who believed the tortoise to be somewhat overtaxed in the area of physical resources,

agreed to the proposal, but with some amusement.  The time for the exercise having arrived, each

participant to his place.  The fox, being the moderator, called, “On your marks, get set, go!”  The

hare, though, practiced in physical activity, was somewhat less experienced in the art of athletic

courtesy.  Thus, not wishing to over-exert himself, the hare was overcome by the attraction of

sleep, and consequently, by the tortoise.  The hare woke to the sound of celebration. The hare

made way to the source of the noise and was somewhat perplexed upon seeing the tortoise was

there as well.  Recovering from the moment of befuddlement, the hare joyfully congratulated the

tortoise as well.  From then on the two neighbors generously exchanged their knowledge of the

social and physical arts and they lived happily ever after.

Ethan's Tortoise and the Hare in Old English Style (Mom's favorite)

The Tortoise and the Hare in “Olde English” Style

            Twas a trulee marvelous dey whereupon did Hare settle his mind to visit his good neybor

Tortoise.  The two were beste of companions and spent many an houre talking together.  There

existed but one flawe between them upon which, despite bothe theire efforts, neither seemed to be

able to cum to an agreement.  This being that Hare was swifte of foote, nimble and agile, and

Tortoise was rather more leisurely than his companion.  Indeed, whilst Tortoise insisted

that, “Haste maketh waste,” Hare rather thought that Tortoise was trying to hide something by his

deliberate manner.

            And so, as many a meeting began, Hare loped into the room, and, withe a flourishe,

seated himself by the hearthe.  At this Tortoise could not but reveal some of his displeasure,

“Wherefore dost thou hasten such?  Tis but daybreak.  Surely nothing so urgent doth merit such

speed?”

            To this Hare replied in short, “My deare friende, must thou persist?  Is it but annoyance

at clumsy work that thou dost pester me so?”

            “Once again I shall say it, by measure and balance the race be won.”

            “And so have we arrived upon the pointe for which I didst venture here.  I have in goode

confidence that just such an event shall soone take place: a race, fore which the prize be the hande of

a maiden in marriage, and a most faire one at that.”

            To this, Tortoise’s reply was so utterly unforeseen that Hare did nearly unseat himselff. 

“Indeed, a race thou saye?  To be sure I shall take part.  Tis nothing like a friendley competition

to enliven one’s spirits.”

Attempting to compose himselfe Hare managed a replye, “Surely thou dost jest?  Thou

canst trulee consider such a feate?”  Tortoise making no reply, Hare lefte to spread the astonishing

worde. 

            Twas not long ere all of the surrounding village knew of Tortoise’s astounding pledge. 

Hence it twas surprise to none that, not only had all of the contestants withdrawn theire names, but

also had heaped the wagers high on a straight out victory by Hare.  A few good natured condolences

were all that were left to Tortoise.  This did, by no means dampen Tortoise’s enthusiasm, but

servd rather to set them freshley aflame.

            The time for the race having arrived, Tortoise made his way to the mark, which had,

mercifully, been moved quite near to his home.  Applause resounded as Hare too set his foot to the

line.  “On thy marks, get ready, away!”  Twas some time before the dust cleared upon which

Tortoise was seene to be in very nearley the same place that he had been left.  “Off I be!”  And

with that, Tortoise ambled slowly away.

            Hare, having neared the finish line, might, with another leape have cleared it, had not

his attention been focussed elsewhere.  Twas a lovely garden, settled by a brook, encircled with the

most beautiful of flowers.  And so, turning aside from the goal that he might well have reached,

Hare settled himself among the blossoms, and was soon off to sleep.

            It was with a leap of the heart that Tortoise came within sight of the finish line and of

Hare, asleep beside it.  He plodded softly by, and, with a final step, his foot crossed.

            To the sound of uproar, Hare awoke with a start.  Whirling around the sight that met him

confirmed his greatest fears.  Men squabbling with one-another, Women laughing and sobbing all

at the same time, and, worst of all, Tortoise standing before the Duke, holding the hand of a

beautiful maiden.  As he rushed over, Tortoise turned to him with a smile.  “So have I told thee. 

Slow and steady wins the race.”  And with that, the two friends smiled and turned to walk away,

slow and steady.

Aidan's First "Super Essay"

 Aidan Piercy

Writing class

Mrs. Piercey

4/20/2016

The Amazing Jobs of Robots

                Did you know that a group of tiny robots, which weighed less than an apple, pulled a 2 ton car? Robots can do a lot of work, and we rely on them every day of our lives. Whenever you look on the internet, you are using a robot. When you drive your car, you are driving something made by a robot. Even when you eat something like cheese or drink milk, you owe your snack to the work of a robot. Robots help adults and children alike.

                Robots do a variety of jobs. These include jobs too terrifying, tough, and tedious for adults. Robots help adults so much, yet we take them for granted. Robots are tough enough, “brave” enough, and “patient” enough to do  jobs some adults would never dream of doing for a living.

                You may think bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity are cool. Well I bet you would think differently if you had to disarm and handle them. Robots do dangerous jobs like this every day. After battles, artillery shells, which have not detonated yet, may be left on the ground. Alarmingly, without robots, men would have to disarm these by hand. Disarming these shells, robots keep adults from having to risk their lives every day! Imagine if your boss called you from the police station and said, “You have to disarm a bomb stuck in the house on Washington Street!” What would you say? Thankfully you would probably never be in that situation. Robots would do the job for you. The police force uses robots to disarm bombs, and this has saved many lives. Have you changed your mind about the excitement of bombs, chemicals, and radioactivity?

                Now you know that robots do jobs too terrifying for adults, but did you know they do astonishingly tough jobs? These jobs, which range from dangerous procedures in the surgery room to missions in the military, are jobs only robots can do. Removing tumors, robots help surgeons with surgeries they never would have dreamed of doing before. Amazingly, a robot snake that surgeons place in the patient’s body, slithers around and helps the surgeons by finding what is in the patient’s body. It doesn’t harm the patient. The military uses robots too. A dog named the alpha dog, which is immune to bullets, can carry supplies over long distances. It listens to verbal commands and watches visual signals. Robots do tough jobs day after day, but they never complain about it.

                Hopefully, you now understand the many helpful jobs that robots perform. You know robots do terrifying and tough jobs, which many people would never dream of doing, every day. Did you know that  they do tedious jobs too? Imagine that you wake up in the morning, get dressed, shower, eat breakfast, and drive out to work. You park your car and slowly walk into the building that you work at every day. After the drive you feel tired, but your boss says you need to work on a big job today. “You need to check for any cracks on that jumbo jet over there. If you miss a crack, you’re fired!” What do you do? Crawling around on an enormous passenger jet, you check for the tiniest cracks that could cause explosions that may even kill passengers in the plane! Because of the lives at stake, you would have to check very carefully for any of the deadly cracks. Thankfully, you will never have to do jobs like this. I am sure you know what would do the job for you! Robots would! Robots crawl over passenger jets, checking for the cracks that could kill many people. Unlike humans, they don’t become bored and make mistakes. Robots are the perfect ones for the job. Some robots “stand” at an assembly line all day handling the same car parts, day after day, week after week, year after year. You now see all the tedious tasks robots do for adults.

                Robots are very helpful. They always take on the same unappealing jobs, but they never complain. You can imagine what it would be like without robots. Humans would risk their lives every day. With robots, many people can do interesting jobs, and not jobs that are to terrifying, tough, and tedious, for adults to do easily or comfortably.

                It is clear robots help adults, but did you know that robots do lots of jobs to help kids too? Robots help kids in many different ways. They help kids by showing their teachers how kids interact and learn. Some help kids cope with physical disabilities like missing arms. Some even help kids with chores at home.

                Did you know that some robots help children in schools? Interestingly, one robot even came into a school acting as a usual fifth grade student! This robot immediately recognized all of the fifth grade students by their names, which it had been programmed to do, and fit in well with the school environment. Teachers learned more about kids’ reactions more easily with a robot in class. They created a better learning experience for the students too. Talking and playing with kids, the robot engaged with the students, making them feel more comfortable at school. Helping kids learn is very important and the robot seems to be doing a very good job with it. Now you know that robots help a lot with children at school. 

                 Robots help children at school, and they also help children with disabilities. Imagine you are a child who is missing an arm. What could you do for fun? You would not be able to play basketball, or baseball,  and you couldn’t swim easily. Thankfully for children who are missing arms, robots can help them play. Robots can be made into arms! One kind of arm is a comfortable Lego robot arm. This prosthetic arm has an attachment at the end where kids can make their own Lego creations. Imagine all of the choices you have! You could make a plow, or a backhoe loader attachment. Different sockets, which are attached to the end of the arm, can be attached so that the arm “grows” with the owner of the arm. The engineers who made the arm estimate that the price of the arm will be around $5,000.

                      Robots help with many things that change children’s lives. Helping teachers see how children interact with each other, robots help kids learn. They help kids cope easily with physical disabilities, which is very important, and help them have fun. Astonishingly, robots help kids at home. Maybe you know what I mean.  Robots help with chores! Robots help by washing the floor, vacuuming and doing dishes. Robots can be very helpful at home. Some even become part of the family. Some can answer questions. Robots make it so that kids can have more free time, and don’t have to do all the chores. These robots are small. It doesn’t take much work to get them started. They also are tough. Robots help children in many ways.

                Robots are so helpful. Children can learn more easily and comfortably with robots. Kids can use robots to do internet courses. They can help kids cope. They help them work. Robots do so much work for kids. I think kids around the world should give three cheers for robots. Imagine what life would be like if kids did not have any robots.

                Robots help adults and kids in very many ways. They help adults with terrifying jobs, and they help kids learn. They help adults with tough jobs, and kids with limiting disabilities. Robots help adults with very tedious jobs, and kids with boring chores. Robots help us in the present time with these jobs. They may help us even more in the future. Imagine if you were out on your deck one day waiting for your package to be delivered. Instead of looking out on the road, you look up in the sky. Suddenly you see something flying toward your deck. You immediately stand up to receive your package. A car flies down from the sky and floats high above your head. It carefully drops a package into your hands. As soon as the package touches your hands, the robot disappears into thin air. This is what some robots might do in the future. There may be disappearing delivery robots. Imagine if you were on the road and everyone had the same kind of car as you. Instead of turning onto the highway, you spin around on your seat and start talking to your friends. The car would turn for you! They are making cars like this! This is what the future of robots may look like.

The Tortoise and the Hare (in the style of Mark Twain) by Leo

“My, aint i’ a lovely day.  I do b’lieve I’ll visit my good neighbor, Tortoise.” No sooner

had Hare spoken these words, than he tossed his blanket in the general direction of his bed and

ran out his door, forgetting entirely to close it behind him.


Watching through his window while he mopped his already-sparkling floor, Tortoise

sighed deeply.  “‘T does seem that ‘e might ‘ave a bit mo’ respect fer other peoples’ property.”

He winced as Hare charged up his immaculate garden path, upending flower pots in his haste.

Sighing again, Tortoise ambled over to his wall mirror.  This particular mirror was an heirloom

from many generations past and was the pride of his heart.  Still contemplating the old, kindly

face that gazed back at him, his reverie was interrupted by a series of thuds upon his heavy oak

door, announcing his neighbor’s arrival.  “Comin’, comin’,” Tortoise said vaguely as he made

his way to the door.

Without sufficient time even for a greeting, Tortoise was forced out of the way by his

neighbor who, as soon as his feet hit the floor, was swept away on its sparkling surface, across

the room, and into the wall on which hung the magnificent mirror.  Down it came with a crash to

waken the dead.  This was perhaps fortunate, for the exclamations that were uttered by Hare,

were quite unfit to be repeated.  “That aint nothin’ to worry yerself ‘bout,” said the Hare, finally

getting to his feet.  He immediately began what he called “tidying up”—kicking the largest

pieces of the glass under the bed and hanging the remains of the once beautiful frame on the

wall, giving it a “complementary dusting” with his short tail.


Tortoise, attempting to hide his horror, shook his head.  Then, composing himself, he

said, “My, my, wha’ a…unexpected s’prise.

“Yes, well I though’ I’d come round, ‘n see how yer doin’.  You aint finished cleanin’

ye’?”  At this he put on an important, patronizing kind of smile saying, “Tortoise, Tortoise, if I

said i’ once, I said i’ an hundred times, all work ‘n no play makes a body slow ‘n dull.”

“And I said jus’ ‘s of’n, tha’ haste makes waste, but slow’n steady wins the race.” 

Hare, vainly attempting to hide a snort, replied, “Yeah, well, speakin’ o’ races, I heard

some’m ‘bout one hap’nin’ t’morrow.”  “Though’ I’d join,” he added with a hint of superiority.

At this, he was somewhat surprised to see a contented smile cross his neighbor’s face.
 
“Y’know, I think I’ll join ‘s well,” said Tortoise, still wearing that mysterious smile.

This was too much for Hare who, slipping on the still-wet floor, rolled over, pounding his fists

on the floor with unrestrained hilarity.

Tortoise, not in the least disturbed by this response, picked up a rag and began to scoop

out the chunks of glass from under his bed, while Hare, still laughing uncontrollably, stumbled

out the door.
 
For the rest of the day, Hare made his way about the surrounding neighborhood gleefully

bringing the news of Tortoise’s decision to anyone who would listen.  Some, like Hare, thought

that, if Tortoise did show up, it would be quite a comical scene.  Others, like Mrs. Robin felt

pity.  “Poor dear, I always though’ ‘e was a bi’ off.  Quiet-like you know?  Keeps to ‘imself

mostly.  But to think o’ ‘im ent’rin’ a race!  I never did ‘ere the like.”
 
It was no wonder to anyone that, by that afternoon, all of the contestants had withdrawn

from the race, all except Tortoise and Hare.  The day of the race came and the stands were soon

packed with spectators from miles around.  At the starting line, Fox held a whispered discussion

with Hare.  “You don’t even know that ‘e ‘ll show up,” Fox argued.

“Oh ‘e will.  Ya shoulda seen ‘im yesterday.  Go’ all fired up-like when I mentioned a

race.  Don’t ye worry yerself ‘bout ‘im.  He can’t hurt himself walkin’.  That’s ‘s fas’ as ‘e ‘ll go

anyways.”     
 
“Oh, alright,” Fox said hesitantly, “I jus’ ‘ope he doesn’t take i’ too ‘ard. Ah, Tortoise

good to see you ou’ ‘n ‘bout.”  For Tortoise had just walked up.
 
“All ready to go then?” asked Tortoise pleasantly.

 “Er, Yes,” said Fox with a significant look at Hare.  “On your marks then,” he waited for

Tortoise to walk to the line.  “Ge’ se’, go!”
 
As the cloud of dust that had been kicked up by Hare parted, it did so to find Tortoise in

precisely the same spot.  “Well, I’d bes’ be off.”  And with a cheery wave to the crowd, he

ambled away.

By this time, Hare was in sight of the Finish line.  With a final bound, he might have

crossed it, had he not been distracted by another sight.  A patch of cool, dry grass surrounded by

clumps of wildflowers brought him to a stop.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw nothing but

dusty track, and, making up his mind, he strolled over to the patch of grass.
 
Much later, Tortoise strolled up, seeing, to his delight, that his trap had worked—Hare

was fast asleep.  The crowd watched with baited breath as Tortoise walked gently by Hare and

crossed the finish line.  The cheers were tumultuous.  “Never in all my life!”  “He did i’!”  “Bless

‘im!” 

Before long, Hare was awoken by the commotion.  “No!  It can’t be! ‘E couldn’t ‘a

won!”  Still forcing himself not to believe what had clearly taken place, Hare looked to the finish

line, at which his fears were confirmed.  A very slow parade was approaching him, at the head of

which was Tortoise.  Tortoise, smiling slightly at the stunned look on Hare’s face, said, “It’s like

I always tell you.  Haste makes waste, but…”

“I know, I know, slow and steady wins the race.”  Tortoise’s smile grew wider.  Then

Hare smiled, “Well, this calls for a proper celebration at my house!”  And, arm in arm, the two

friends made their way, slow and steady.

Happy 8th Birthday Tert! (Siobhan)

~Happy Birthday Tert!~

We can't believe you are 8 years old, Tert! We love you so much and can't imagine life without you! Here are some pictures from your special day...

 You requested a very special birthday menu. Your birthday dinner was meatloaf, cheesy mashed potatoes, butternut squash and corn.

 For dessert Mom made you a chocolate chip cheesecake.

Click here to see last year's 7th birthday post