I got bored and decided to do another one. Originally I wanted to do Snow White, but I couldn't actually think of an alternative reading for that one yet, so I'm doing 'The Tortoise and the Hare'. The stories aren't like their originals of course, I've taken liberties and added things in to make it interesting.
Enjoy guys :D
Oh, and some of you may have noticed that my username has changed (used to be known as Aznphoenix95)—I changed it to stop my brother from snooping around, he's awfully annoying when he quotes my own stories at me.
"Alright, that's enough for today. Go to sleep Princess," Ecliptor said as he got up from the chair. His lessons with the little Kerovian was going perfectly, she was a smart little girl and had already gotten the hang of several different languages. Not to mention her combat skills were coming along nicely, at this rate he'll have her ready to serve Dark Spectre within a few years.
"Ecliptor?" The small voice made him stop in his tracks.
"What is it?" He asked, in the back of his mind, he wondered how Karone always managed to manipulate him into doing whatever she wanted.
"Can you tell me a bed-time story? Pleeeeease..." And there it was again. He really wished Dark Spectre would put a death sentence on the cursed puppy dog eyes. But his master had merely laughed at him when he suggested it...
Ecliptor sighed, "Alright..."
He hated the way the girl's eyes lit up, but he hated himself even more for that strange feeling of warmth that overcame him whenever he saw it.
"But remember, each story has a lesson—and if you want me to keep telling you stories then you need to pick out the lessons," Ecliptor reminded her and the little girl nodded, the big grin never wavering from her face.
"Once upon a time there was a hare who, boasting how he could run faster than anyone else, was forever teasing Tortoise for his slowness. Then one day, the irate tortoise answered back: "Who do you think you are? There's no denying you're swift, but even you can be beaten!". The hare squealed with laughter. "Beaten in a race? By whom? No you, surely! I bet there's nobody in the world that can win against me! I'm so speedy! If you think you could, why don't you try?"
Annoyed by Hare's constant bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge. The following day the race was announced to the entire town and many gathered to watch. However, it wasn't only Tortoise that showed up to race, another furry creature also came.
Hare looked at the other thing curiously, never in his life has he ever seen anything like it. Being the outgoing person he is, Hare approached the strange creature.
"Who and what are you?" He asked.
Tortoise merely rolled his eyes at Hare's rudeness but the other creature didn't seem to take any offence.
"I'm Cheetah, and when I heard there was going to be a race, I couldn't help myself. I wanted to see how fast people in this town are—I heard the fastest was going to compete today," Cheetah answered, eyeing Tortoise and Hare calculatingly.
Hare puffed up, "That's me! I'm the fastest, no one has ever or ever will beat me!"
"We'll see about that," Cheetah said simply as he got ready at the starting line.
Hare yawned sleepily as Tortoise finally made it to the starting line.
"Starting the race today would be nice Tortoise..." Hare said dryly as Tortoise glared at him.
When the whistle blew, Hare immediately took off, pelting down the path and over the hills. When he glanced back, he saw Cheetah merely taking a leisurely walk and Tortoise was painfully slow, trudging barely past the starting line.
Hare decided to take a nap, "Well, at this rate, those two won't be where I am for another hour or two."
Hare awoke with a start from his sleep and gazed around, looking for his competitors (if they could even be called that). He spotted Tortoise a far distance away, barely covered a third of the course, while Cheetah seemed to be picking flowers off at the side. Breathing a sigh of relief, Hare decided he might as well have breakfast, and off he went to munch some cabbages he had noticed in the nearby field. Cheetah probably got distracted easily, and he put all thoughts about the four legged furry creature out of mind.
The heavy meal and hot sun made his eyelids droop. With a careless glance at the others, who were barely halfway, he decided to have another snooze before flashing past the winning post. His last thought before drifting off was the look on Tortoise's face when he saw Hare speed by. The sun started to sink below the horizon and the tortoise, who had been plodding towards the winning post since morning wasn't too far from the finish. At that very point, Hare jolted awake as Cheetah pawed at his face.
"Hey, wakey-wakey Mr fastest-in-the-town. Tortoise is going to beat you," Cheetah said.
He could see that Cheetah was right and leapt up, pelting at maximum speed towards the finish. But to his shock, Cheetah had seemed to disappear in a blur and rushed past the finish line, seconds before Tortoise crossed too. Hare's last leap was too late, for the Tortoise and Cheetah (who had been standing right with him) had beaten him. Tired and in disgrace, he slumped down beside the tortoise who was silently smiling at him and Cheetah who held the biggest smirk he'd ever seen." Ecliptor finished, "So, can you tell me the lesson?"
However, the little Kerovian was already fast asleep. Ecliptor wondered if he should shake the girl awake and make her answer the question but decided against it.
He pulled the blanket over the little girl's body and got up to turn off the lights, silently telling himself to tell shorter tales next time.
If anyone's interested, I'll do the alternative reading for this story next chapter when Karone wakes up :D
I was concentrating more on Ecliptor's fatherly relationship with Karone in this chapter.
