The fable 'The Tortoise and the Hare' ends with the tortoise winning the race. The hare, overly confident in its speed, takes a nap midway, assuming it has plenty of time. The tortoise, slow and steady, just keeps plodding along without stopping. By the time the hare wakes up and dashes for the finish line, it's too late—the tortoise is already there.
I always found that final image kind of powerful in its simplicity. It's not a dramatic photo finish; the tortoise just arrives. The moral about perseverance over arrogance is baked right into the action, no extra commentary needed. The hare's shock must've been something else.
What sticks with me is how the ending doesn't really punish the hare beyond the loss. There's no added humiliation, just the bare fact of defeat. That makes the lesson cleaner, I think.