The Story of The Tortoise and the Hare in San Francisco From the Perspective of Gully, the Seagull

The Story of The Tortoise and the Hare in San Francisco 

From the Perspective of Gully, the Seagull

 

 

Jackie Phillips 

English Department, Post University  

ENG130 Literature and Composition 

Unit 7: Point of View Literary Response 

 Dr. Rebecca Taverner-Coleman 

Sunday, August 13, 2023

 

I will be choosing the story “The Tortoise and the Hare” and the Point of View will be from Gully, the Seagull, that is in the area and watching the whole event. 

Gully was born last spring in a rocky cove of the historical remains of Sutro Baths, next to the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco. He was his mom's second batch of chicks. His two siblings and his mom remain in the area, and he sees them occasionally around Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. 

His favorite spot is the soccer fields behind the Beach Chalet restaurant on La Playa Road. He thinks the trash cans have a lot of tasty food from all the people who come to the soccer fields on the weekends for games. He always comes by that place late on Sunday night before the Parks Department picks up the trash in the cans. He enjoys plucking all the trash from the cans to find the best morsels of food. He knows the local raccoons appreciate that, so they can take the scraps that he leaves behind on the ground. 

On this particular night, Gully is checking out the trash cans at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park. The time frame is around 11:00 PM. There are multiple cans all around the Polo Fields, which are also used as soccer fields for games on weekends. He is sitting inside of a trash can at the Polo Fields, snacking on his one of his favorites Hostess cookies. To his left in the Polo Fields, he sees many animals gathering at one end of the field. It isn't unusual to see rabbits in this area because it is common for them to gather for races between other rabbits. Gully doesn't like rabbits because he doesn't think they are very smart. He hasn't met many that he likes. 

He notices something is different tonight since he sees other animals besides just rabbits down on the field. He also sees Raccoons, Crows and Ravens. To his surprise, he also sees a few tortoises. It isn't unusual to see tortoises in Golden Gate Park since they like to be in the ponds, lakes and distant fields. However, he doesn't recall the last time he saw them at the Polo Fields, particularly at nighttime. 

He sees a type of start line, and he sees a rabbit and a tortoise standing at the start line. He is surprised, of course, to see the tortoise standing at the start line. He squints his eyes to try to believe what he is seeing. To get a closer view Gully flies to a set of bleachers that are alongside the Polo Fields, and he sits on one of these seats.  

At the start line Gully sees a Raven with a piece of red fabric in his mouth jumping up and down, appearing ready to start the race. When everyone is set to start, the Raven jumps up two feet, hovering for a second and then drops the material and yells “Caw!” The race starts! The finish line that Gully can see is about 300 feet down the soccer field, and he also sees another Raven with another piece of material in his mouth to signal the end of the race.  

The rabbit starts to sprint down the field, and as he looks back over his shoulder, he sees the tortoise has only taken a few steps. After about 100 feet, the rabbit stops to look again and laughs out loud, falling down on the grass. He glances to his left side and sees a set of bleachers a couple of hops away. He figures he has plenty of time to take a quick nap. Besides, he is tired after the other four races he ran previously that night and he won three of them. 

Gully sees the rabbit move off quickly to the side to sit on the other bleachers, and he thinks to himself, “That isn't a great idea.”  

Even though Gully is only a year old, in his short time he has seen how determined tortoises can be when faced with difficult challenges. Gully has spent many hours around the ponds, lakes and fields of Golden Gate Park and has seen many tortoises roaming around. He has seen them stuck in rocks, turned upside down, and faced with a long, steep uphill to a green, grassy area. Gully thinks the rabbit has made a mistake by underestimating the determination of the tortoise. 

Along both sidelines Gully can see over 30 rabbits celebrating and laughing at the racing rabbit sitting in on the bleachers. They are taunting the tortoise that he can't win, no matter how hard he tries.  

Gully notices that a Mountain Lion is peeking his head out of the distant trees, starting to take interest in the noise and growing chaos. Gully also sees a group of deer, both male and female who have accumulated by the trees. He sees them chatting between themselves back and forth and munching on green grass. Gully also sees a couple of coyotes peeking out from the trees, curious about what is going on down on the field.  

After several minutes of watching everything go on, Gully notices the tortoise is getting closer to the finish line. He sees that the rabbits are still partying on the sidelines. Gully glances at the deer in the trees and starts to see the worried looks on their faces. Gully looks back again at the tortoise and notices how close he is to the finish line. He glances at the rabbit sitting in the bleachers, and sees the rabbit is still asleep. Then his eyes catch sight of the other rabbits on the sidelines. And there is a slow realization of what is happening in front of them. He sees one rabbit punch his buddy next to him and then point to the racetrack. Then he drops his drink to the ground and pushes his buddy next to him and points down the track again. This continues with each rabbit one by one, until each realizes what is happening in front of them. 

They aren't sure what to do, so they stand frozen in fear. Suddenly, a Raven jumps up and down screaming and yelling. He has a bright idea. He has been trying to find something to get the rabbits to owe him a favor as a way of power. He flies out to the rabbit sitting on the bleachers and flies around in circles yelling “Caw! Caw! Caw!” The Raven shouts as loud as possible to wake up the rabbit.  

After several minutes, the rabbit slowly opens his eyes, rubs his eyes and looks around to see what is causing all the noise. He squints at the field but can’t immediately see anything in the darkness. It takes a few seconds for him to realize that the tortoise is only a couple of feet from the finish line. He jumps up from the bench, spilling his drink on his lap, and fumbles for his glasses and hat on the bench next to him. He quickly tries to tie his shoelaces and starts to run toward the finish line to catch the tortoise. In his haste, he did not properly tie his shoelaces, causing him to step on his shoelaces and trip and fall forward, landing flat on his face. He stumbles back up onto his feet, forgetting his shoelaces are still untied. He grabs his shoes, pulls them off his feet, tossing them to the grassy field around him. He hops with random strides around and across the field, accumulating stickers and foxtails along the way on his feet. 

As he gets closer to the finish line, he realizes his last chance of winning this race would require a flying leap. Just as the tortoise crosses the finish line, the rabbit takes a flying leap, outstretching his arms, hands and fingers. He lands across the finish line, just inches behind the tortoise. A Raven jumps up into the air, drops the red material and yells “Caw!” 

A loud groan of “Oh no!” is heard from the crowd of rabbits as they stare in disbelief at what just happened in front of them.  

Gully says to himself quietly, “Great for the Tortoise!” He gulps and thinks, “I need to go because I don't want to stay for what is going to happen next.” 

He flies off to the beach nearby where he can find some trash in cans before the Parks Department comes to empty the trash early in the morning.   

 

 

References  

 

Cleave, John, 2023, “Gully the Seagull character and childrens stories,” http://www.thegullery.co.uk/ 

Aesop, 1912, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” https://read.gov/aesop/025.html 

Golden Gate Park Polo Field, John F Kennedy Drive, San Francisco, CA, https://www.google.com/maps/@37.768165,-122.4954991,17z?entry=ttu