Chapter 01The reader
Little Ant loved to read. Perched on top of a book with his little glasses, he would read and read the day away while the other ants marched past carrying crumbs.
The colony had a chant about it: Ants don't read! Ants must feed! Ants collect the food they need! Little Ant heard it every single day, and every single day he turned another page.
Chapter 02In trouble
One evening his mother and father sat him down, very serious, while his little sister watched wide-eyed from the tunnel. All this reading, they said. The colony needs workers, not readers.
Little Ant felt small and bad. He loved his family, and he loved his books, and the two loves would not fit together no matter how he pushed them.
That night he read by moonlight through the tunnel roof, quieter than a whisper, and dreamed in sentences.
Chapter 03Autumn comes
Then autumn came, leaves falling gold and red, and the colony's problem turned serious. The Queen herself addressed the ants: the stores must be filled before winter, so all ants must work and work some more.
Scouts searched under every leaf. They found an apple core here, a seed there - nothing like enough. The tunnels grew quiet with worry.
Little Ant thought and thought. And then he remembered something - something from a book - and his antennae shot straight up.
Chapter 04The big plan
A restaurant! Little Ant shouted, jumping up. A place where people go to feed - it says so in the books I read! There will be crumbs beyond imagining: burgers, buns, drumsticks, chips!
The colony stared. March where? How far? What if the books are wrong? But the stores were empty and winter was coming, so the Queen nodded once. March, she said.
And so the ants went marching one by one, out of the heap and into the setting sun - the reader at the front, holding his book like a map.
Chapter 05Into the sunset
They marched through the day and into the night, over twigs like fallen trees and around puddles like lakes. Little Ant called the rhythm and nobody complained, because adventurers never do.
Then, over the final hill of gravel - there it was. A restaurant! Tables inside and out, lights warm as honey, and underneath them a golden scattered treasure of dropped food.
The ants cheered so loudly the picnickers never noticed. They hoisted burgers and buns and drumsticks onto their backs and marched home under the stars, rich beyond dreaming.
Chapter 06The reader celebrated
When they returned, the stores filled to bursting and the whole colony cheered like mad. The Queen herself shook Little Ant's hand. Mum and Dad hugged him until his glasses steamed up.
And his little sister took his hand and said the best words of all: Now I understand. The way you love to read a book makes me want to take a look.
So Little Ant reads on - and now somebody small reads beside him. The colony still chants, but the chant has changed: Ants DO read! And ants DO feed! And the readers lead the way!
