Three Bends Ahead of Bento

Scene One: A Challenge. Along a Brazilian forest stream, Bento the deer boasted that quick feet were proof of a quick mind. Iara the tortoise disagreed. “Then race me,” Bento said. Iara studied the winding trail and proposed a course with three bends. Each bend hid the next stretch behind thick leaves. On fallen bark, she wrote the heading “Race Along the Stream.” Beneath a drawing of the route, her caption read, “Three bends to the finish.” Bento admired the straight legs in his reflection. Iara looked toward the bushes, where something rustled. “Tomorrow morning,” she said, “we will see what speed proves.”

Scene Two: The First Bend. At sunrise, Bento bounded away while Iara took one slow step. Soon, he could no longer hear her footsteps. Beside a stand of bamboo, he called back, “Tortoise, where are you?” From leaves farther along the trail came a low voice: “Just ahead!” Bento stopped so suddenly that his ears tipped forward. How could she have passed him? He kept his composure, his calm expression, although nobody was watching. Perhaps she knew a shortcut. He lengthened his stride and hurried around the bend without investigating the voice.

Scene Three: The Second Bend. By the palms, Bento was certain he had regained the lead. He slowed, straightened his ears, and called, “Tortoise, where are you?” Again, the answer came from farther along the trail: “Just ahead!” This voice was higher and squeakier than the first. Bento noticed the difference, but he was too busy worrying about losing to wonder why. His confidence had begun to leak away like water from a cracked cup. Instead of searching the leaves, he raced toward the final bend.

Scene Four: The Third Bend. Near the finish, Bento called once more, “Tortoise, where are you?” A soft voice replied, “Just ahead!” Beyond the bend, a tortoise rested beneath a fig tree. Bento's certainty faltered. He had run faster after every answer, yet here sat his slow-footed opponent, apparently waiting for him. He lowered himself into the shade. For the first time that morning, he had nothing to say about the connection between quick feet and a quick mind.

Scene Five: Four Shells. Later, while Bento rested, Iara arrived with two other tortoises. The tortoise beneath the fig tree greeted them. Bento looked from one patterned shell to another. Their resemblance had helped fool him, but now he could see small differences. Iara explained that she had stationed her cousin Luma near the bamboo, her brother Nilo near the palms, and her aunt Cora at the finish. Each had answered his call. Iara herself had walked the course. “Three answers from three places,” Bento murmured. At last, the changing voices made sense. He had mistaken a series of helpers for one astonishing runner.

Scene Six: A Different Measure. “You made me reconsider my boast,” Bento told Iara. “But four tortoises do not make a fair race against one deer.” “True,” Iara admitted. “Our trick did not prove that I could run faster. It proved that you should look more carefully before deciding what someone can do.” They shared guavas in the shade. Bento still had the quickest feet beside the stream, but afterward he asked more questions before declaring that he had the quickest mind.