Here’s to the Ants!

Early one evening, a colony of black ants was scampering home to their anthill. They had had a busy day carrying twigs and pine needles back and forth, and were SO looking forward to going to bed and getting a good night’s sleep.

Suddenly, however, one of them spotted a large, plump raspberry lying under an old oak tree. He promptly convinced several of his friends to go with him to carry it back. The queen ant would certainly thank them for such a gift!

However, as soon as the ants had positioned themselves around the raspberry, they heard the sound of tiny marching feet coming down the tree trunk. An army of red ants was fast approaching!

You see, it’s well known that black ants and red ants are not friends. Black ants do honest work, building anthills and feeding their queen, while red ants are considered forest bandits.

Although black ants are normally peaceful creatures, they began fighting bravely for this raspberry. The red ants outnumbered them, but as the red ants didn’t work as a team, their force was not very strong. The black ants won the battle.

In an instant, they deftly balanced the raspberry on their shoulders and ran off with it before the bandits had a chance to pounce on them. Once back at the anthill, the raspberry heroes were duly rewarded for their gift to the queen. After eating a good dinner, they could all finally go to bed.

But that night, a fierce storm swept across the forest. The wind howled through the trees, and heavy rain destroyed most of the anthill. The black ants had barely slept, and yet it was time for them to get up and work. They set about laying twigs, one…