The Ant who tried and didn't give up

One morning Ant scurried from his hive with particular purpose and one thought in mind: today he would feed the colony!

In truth, that thought is about the only thought any worker ant has. Queens may think of laying eggs and deploying battle, but even they are frightfully dull. I have never met an ant with any real conversational ability. You wouldn't want ants as dinner guests, although sometimes they come uninvited.

Ant was known only as Ant, just like all his brethren. You can see how that might be confusing if we did that:

"Hey Man, I saw Man and Man at the dance last night."

"Man, I wasn't at the dance last night and Man was with me at poker!"

It doesn't bother ants though. I cannot say why, ask your mother later.

So, as Ant left the hive with all the other Ant ants, he thought about his quest. He wanted something big, something impressive that would make Ant and Ant jealous. Plus Ant would be so proud of him. Ant was happy in his reverie. I mean our Ant, not one of the other Ants. Pay close attention!

He wandered about, finding nothing, or at least nothing impressive. He was about to give up and bring home the typical bit of green leaf..

But suddenly there it was! A largish bit of breadcrumb, dropped by a careless and wasteful human with little appreciation for such a treasure. Ant stood in front of this near mountain of butter soaked beauty in awe. This would fix their wagons, he thought gleefully, even though he had absolutely no concept of what a wagon might be. He had overheard a cat muttering that once and admired the malicious sound of it. He liked saying it at times like this.

No, I do not know what the cat had planned. I will try to find out and tell you another day.

Anyway, Ant grabbed hold of the crumb and tugged. Ants are fantastically strong, as you probably know, but Ant was a tiny, tiny ant and this was a very large breadcrumb. He could barely budge it.

By noon, Ant had moved the crumb barely three inches. Had Ant known anything about math or had owned one of those cheating machines we have, he could have calculated that at that rate, the breadcrumb would not get to the hive in his lifetime. He did not, so he kept trying.

Bumble Bee noticed Ant while on the way to some flowers. Bumble paused, and while hovering above, said "I think you have bit off more than you can chew, little fellow!"

Ant was annoyed but then he had a thought. "You could easily carry this for me", he pleaded.

Bumble frowned. "Why would I do that? I don't need a crumb." You see, Bumble, like all bees, was a bit single minded too. Anything he picked up would of course be brought home. He simply couldn't conceive of doing anything different, so he bumbled off, slightly confused. "Why would anyone need a crumb?", he wondered as he neared his flower bed.

Ant struggled on, making little progress. Toward the end of the day a robin named Sheila noticed Ant's labors.

Many birds won't eat ants. Sheila agreed with that; they can be quite bitter. I understand that some people enjoy them coated with chocolate, but I don't know where you would get the tiny brushes you'd need to paint it on with and how would you make them hold still? If I don't know, Sheila definitely did not. She thought of taking the crumb, but Ant would surely cling to it and she might eat him too, ruining the whole thing. She flew off.

At dusk, Ant gave up and returned home, quite dejected. Tomorrow is another day, he told another Ant, who smiled sympathetically but secretly rejoiced. Ants are a bit like us when it comes to jealousy.

The next morning, Ant hurried to where he had left the crumb. It was gone! Ant was astonished and greatly sad.

On a nearby tree branch, Sheila laughed to herself. Stupid Ant, she thought, the early bird gets the crumb.

Then she paused, struck by a Bird Thought. I can make something of that, she said almost aloud. The early bird gets the, gets the.. grasshopper, maybe? No, that wasn't quite it.

"It will come to me", she promised herself as she flew off, going wherever birds go when they think they have a good Thought to work on.