Being that whales spend roughly 90% of their time submerged under the waves, it comes as no surprise to hear that mankind have historically viewed them as very mystical creatures, and they are involved in many a myth. Here's one involving a whale and sea slug; it’s kind of like a Japanese version of 'the hare and the tortoise'.
There once lived a whale who’s boastful ego matched his enormous size. Believing that he was the greatest animal in the ocean he challenged a sea slug to race him to the nearest beach [talk about picking your battles!]. The sea slug might have not been the fastest of animals, but he was pretty canny, and before the race he arranged his sea slug friends to wait at various beaches. On the day of the race the whale stormed ahead, but when he reached the first beach he saw that the sea slug was already there, so he challenged him to race again. Race after race the sea slug won until the whale finally admitted defeat.
Admittedly, it’s far removed from Aesop’s ‘slow and steady wins the race’ fable, being more along the lines of a lesson in ‘brains over brawn’ - although I’m sure the Sperm Whale would have something to say about that, with brains five times the weight of ours, they’ve literally got the biggest brains on the planet!