Snail Story: The Creative Contest of the Snail Family
For the Snail Family, every time it rains, it’s time for them to hold their grand celebration. The festivities begin with the old toothless Snail King delivering the opening speech. The old king speaks very slowly, but he insists on fulfilling his royal duties.
After the king finishes speaking, the lively contests begin. Just moments ago, all the snails, big and small, were quiet and serious, but now they start jostling and crowding, each trying to find the most comfortable spot.
The content of the snail contests is different each time, and this event is only in its fourth edition. The idea for the first contest came from a snail with a very long neck. He had overheard two beetles talking about an upcoming flying competition and thought it would be embarrassing if such a large snail family never held any competitions of their own. The king agreed and asked for everyone’s opinion. The snails all vigorously wiggled their antennae to show their agreement since they had no hands to clap.
At first, they didn’t know what they should compete in. Finally, the snail with the long neck suggested, “Why don’t we compete to see who can stretch their neck the longest?”
Everyone disagreed, as it was obvious that this snail’s long neck was already quite famous. If they agreed, his neck might stretch so far that it wouldn’t retract, which could be dangerous. However, after discussing for a long time without coming up with a better idea, they reluctantly went with this plan. Unsurprisingly, the long-necked snail won the championship. There was no prize because they didn’t know that a championship could come with one. They had the winning snail stand on a small rock, and each snail touched antennae with him to congratulate him. The contest ended, the sun came out, and they all hurried back into their shells to sleep.
After the next rain, the snails emerged again, and the old king slowly gave his speech. Then they discussed what to compete in this time. Since all the snails had been sleeping before, they couldn’t use that time to think of ideas. They thought and thought, each snail wandering around, leaving a long trail behind them. Finally, one snail suggested, “How about we compete to see who can travel the farthest?”
Great! Everyone agreed, because once someone came up with an idea, they didn’t have to rack their brains anymore.
Then they all set off in different directions. As a result, several snails never came back, and no one knew where they went, while the ones who did return couldn’t clearly say how far they had gone since none of them could measure time or speed accurately. So, this contest ended rather muddled.
The sun made the dew sparkle, and the little snails returned to their shells to sleep.
When the rain woke them up again, as usual, the old king gave his speech, and everyone was happy to be awake again. Learning from their last experience, they decided this time to compete to see who could move the slowest. This idea was met with unanimous cheers because every snail believed they were the slowest and would surely win the championship. To prove they were moving very, very slowly, they all immediately retracted into their shells and refused to budge as soon as the old king gave the order. As a result, it wasn’t long before they all fell asleep.
When they woke up again, each one believed they were the champion of the last contest. But since everyone was a champion, it was the same as having no champion at all, so they decided to increase the difficulty.
With more and more failed contest experiences, this time the snails started using their brains. Finally, a beautiful little snail suggested, “How about we compete to see who has the most creative antennae?” For snails, their antennae are like their business cards.
Everyone agreed, and they all started busily preparing, each snail hiding under a leaf to work carefully.
After a while, the old king, who had taken a nap and just woken up, called out, “The contest begins!”
The little snails crawled out to the open space one after another. Some had tied their antennae into bows, some had braided theirs into little plaits, some had bent theirs into right angles, some had dyed them with grass juice, some had decorated theirs with small flowers, some had twisted theirs into spirals, and some had shaped theirs into question marks…
With so many interesting and creative ideas, who should be the champion? The old king was stumped. Finally, the old king said, “Friendship first, competition second.”
The snails felt this was a result that made everyone happy, so they all raised their antennae in agreement.
The sun came to lull them to sleep again, and the little snails retracted back into their shells. What will they compete in next time? We’ll have to wait until the next rain to find out. If it rains next time and I join the snail contest again, I’ll definitely tell you all about it. You ask who I am? Heh—let me yawn first. Alright, I’m the beautiful little snail who suggested making creative antennae. Bye-bye, I’m so sleepy, see you next time.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
