The story of the tortoise and the hare teaches several lessons about teamwork and competition. Initially, the hare loses by being overconfident and resting, but wins the rematch by running consistently. Next, the tortoise wins by changing the game to emphasize its strength of swimming. Finally, they realize their greatest success working as a team, with the hare carrying the tortoise over obstacles and the tortoise swimming them across the river together. The moral is that individuals perform best by emphasizing their strengths, but teams are stronger by combining members' complementary abilities.