Culturally-specific icon design

I have just bought a new sewing machine. I am very excited as I have always had very old ones handed down from Grandmothers and mothers. Having a new one will mean I will stop buying mass produced clothes, so even though it is a new product, I feel ok about it.

Whilst I was in the shop, being attended to by a very helpful assistant, I noticed this icon set on a fancier machine. I guess it is about speed control, but would I know this if I was from another country? Is the hare and the tortoise story (attributed to Aesop) a universally known fable?