Slow and steady wins the race but that's only for the tortoise who won in the childhood tale we read and grew up with. For Fred the 100-year old tortoise from Blackfield in the UK, his steady escape wasn't so easy. Fred was owned by 86-year old Terry Phelps and was worried when he went missing. Phelps even put out a missing report in a newspaper as well. Luckily, the tortoise had covered only a mile (1.in a week's time. So the average speed of Fred was 0.006mph.

The tortoise was spotted by a motorist on a highway who could have almost run over him. The motorist pulled over and took the tortoise to home. But he came to know about the missing report and was a good Samaritan to Phelps. The owners were very glad to get Fred back as he has been their pet for more than 30 years now. In the true sense, Fred was very much a part of their family. "He was right in the middle of the carriageway and I almost ran him over. When I got home someone told me that they'd seen an article... about a missing tortoise," the motorist was quoted to a daily newspaper.

He then found out the owners and took Fred to his original home. Fred's owners were having sleepless nights since the tortoise went missing.  They feared he was stolen or got lost. "After he came home I sat on a bench and went to sleep while looking at him," Fred was quoted. Meanwhile, Fred did have his week of freedom we guess.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 18, 2018 04:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).