Eileen Lageer
Once
there was a colony of ants with only five legs. Whenever they walked they went
one-two-hitch, one-two-hitch, all along the path.
These
ants lived on decayed banana leaves and nothing else. I shouldn't say lived,
for many of them died. Banana leaves, you know, especially in their rotten
state, are rather hard to find and so these ants had a very hard life. Many
died young from overexertion and starvation.
Now
it happened that one day a very strange ant was born among them. This ant had
six legs. Everyone clicked his tongue in consternation. Many tried the best
they could to console the parents on their child's deformity. Some suggested
that for the good of the community they ought to kill him in infancy. But the
mother begged hard, so they let him live.
Strangely
enough, the little ant was soon rushing around faster than his elders. This was
ominous. And worse than that, he had a very awkward way of walking.
"Look,"
they tried to tell him, "you don't know how to walk right. You have to go
one-two-hitch, one-two-hitch. Now try it properly."
So
the little ant would try to put a little hitch in his step, but every time he
tried, that sixth foot would come down and he'd leave his teachers far behind.
They gave up in disgust.
When
he was half grown, the elders noticed another peculiarity. He was eating bread
crumbs.
"Stop!"
they cried. "They're poison. You mustn't do that. If you eat even two
little mouthfuls, you'll die!"
But
the little ant continued eating. They waited to see him fall over dead, but
nothing happened. Instead, as the days went on, he grew strong and big, bigger
even than the biggest of the grown-ups. This was outrageous.
But
the real crisis didn't come until he was fully grown. The colony had been told
to move quickly from their home to another place, for dreaded driver ants were
marching against them.
The
job of moving was very slow, for in order to move the nest an egg had to be
loaded onto the back of an ant. Then two other ants climbed on his back and
rode along, holding the egg in place. They had to keep it from rolling off at
every hitch, you see. So the egg was carried along, and the ant under the egg
would be more dead than alive when they arrived.
They
had just started moving their eggs in this way when they noticed the six-legged
monstrosity coming toward them at a rapid clip.
"Hurry
up, you lazy thing," they cried between puffs. "You have to work
too."
They
had barely gotten the words out of their mouths when he passed them on the
double and was back again carrying an egg, of all places, in his two front
feet.
"You
can't do that!" they screamed. "You'll break it. And anyway, you'll
never get there."
"I've already been there and back
twice," he replied, "and I haven't broken one yet. Let me show you
how to do it."
That
was the last straw. Rage came up in their throats and choked them. They dropped
their eggs in a heap and rushed at him.
"He
has a devil!" cried his enemies.
"He
is beside himself!" cried his friends.
"He
perverteth the people!"
"He
is spoiling our nation!"
"He
is teaching others this perfidy! "
"Away
with him!"
"Kill
him!"
"There!"
they growled in grim satisfaction sometime later. "He'll never try to
teach us again. We'll solve our own problems, thank you."
Then
they went back to work.
One-two-hitch.
One-two-hitch. One-two-hitch.
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