Why The Sloth Always Sleeps

By: Katherine Harville

Long, long ago the Sloth didn’t always sleep. In fact he was one of the most friendly and playful animals in the rainforest. He was extremely active and love to swing from branch to branch. But one day that all changed.

It was a beautiful day in the rainforest and Sloth and Python were swinging from the trees and decided to lounge in the branches. They were the best of friends and always played with each other.

But, lately they had been bored, it seemed as though every day was just the same as the next. But, Python had come up with an idea to make things interesting. “ How about we race? We could race all around the rainforest and back. Whomever wins will be crowned the most active animal in the rainforest. If you loose you must sleep for the majority of the rest of your life,” Python suggested. Sloth agreed.

The next day the race would take place. That morning the air was filled with excitement. All the animals of the rainforest were there to watch. With the call of Tucan the race

began.

Sloth had a jolt of energy, he just couldent give up being active? By now he was pretty far ahead of Python. But Sloth wasn’t the only one that was determined. The reason python had made the

terms he had for the bet was because he was sick of everyone calling Sloth the most active animal in the rainforest, he wanted the animals to look up to him, not sloth. So sneaky python had set up a scam in advance.

Python’s close friend Boa Constrictor was waiting ¾ of the way from the finishline. When he reached him Boa would wrap around him and hold Sloth back until Python passed and won.

Unaware Sloth kept going. Beads of sweat were dripping from his face, it was the hardest he’d ever worked in his life. It was truly sad that although he didn’t know it, it would all be for nothing.

Soon enough Sloth reached Boa. Angry and upset with Python, Sloth struggled to free himself. But, Boa’s grip was too tight, Python had won the race.

Sadly no one ever found out that Python cheated, so today Sloth follows the terms of the bet and almost always sleeps. But although Python won he didn’t become the most active animal in the rainforest. Because of the guilt he felt long after he refused to. So that is why the Sloth always sleeps.