One morning, Sophea Tuansaay stopped at a small pond to take a sip, but a snail atop a lotus leaf told the hare that he was not allowed to drink his water.
In response, the hare said, "Neither you nor your forefathers own this water! "How dare you, slow, gnarly snail, stop me!"
The hare's comment infuriated the snail, who yelled, "How dare you! How dare I! I would have you know I can journey to Mount Kailash to seek an audience with Lord Shiva and be back here by dinner.”
Sophea Tuansaay scoffed at the snail’s outrageous statement. The snail went on, “Would you dare to race me for the right to this water, Brother Hare?”
The hare found the proposal amusing. “Brother Snail, why are you asking for this race? Don’t you see my long legs?”
The snail got angrier and angrier. “Come back tomorrow morning for the race!” The hare agreed. The snail thought he was in big trouble after the hare left. “How can I win a race when I can hardly crawl a few feet at a time?” He thought hard and finally came up with a brilliant idea. The snail called all his snail relatives for a meeting. He told them about the race tomorrow. “I need you all to hide yourselves around the pond. When the hare calls out to find my position, the one ahead of him answers his call.” The snails all agreed.
When Sophea Tuansaay arrived the next morning, he shouted out, “Brother Snail, are you ready for our race?”
“Yes, let’s go!” the snail replied.
So the two started. A short moment later, the hare called out, “Brother Snail!” and the snail ahead of him answered his call, “Yes!” A moment later, the hare called out again, and the snail ahead answered. And on and on, the same thing happened.
Panic gripped Sophea Tuansaay. "How did I lose to this slowpoke?" The hare eventually lost the race.
For this reason, hares and rabbits do not drink directly from lakes, streams, or ponds.
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