A crowd of animals gathers to watch the race between Max the Hare and Toby the Tortoise. The hare speeds of and, sure of winning, stops to rest or show off his indi- sputable skills to the spectators he meets along the way. He plays tennis and baseball and forgets about the race. Meanwhile the tortoise tenaciously and tirelessly proceeds on his way, heedless of the teasing he gets from the hare and the public. In the end he overtakes the hare in the final yards and beats him.
The story is taken from Aesop’s famous fable, also recounted by La Fontaine. The moral is very clear: whoever strives hard will get results, even though he may be weak; whoever gets distracted and lets himself be tempted by other stimuli risks not achieving anything, however strong he may be.
This cartoon won an Oscar for best anima- ted short. Music by Frank Churchill. The cha- racter of Max the Hare will be returned to years later and become the famous Bugs Bunny.
