THE BUILDING OF THE CITY 13 



the stem of a dry leaf can become a strong column. 

 The carpenters explore the neighboring forests, that 

 is to say the tufts of grass, to choose their pieces. 



"Good! see this covering of an oat-grain. It is 

 very thin, <lry, and solid, it will make an excellent 

 plank for the partition they are constructing below. 

 But it is heavy, enormously heavy. The ant that 

 has made the discovery draws backward and makes 

 itself rigid on its six feet. No success: the heavy 

 mass does not move. It tries again, all its little body 

 trembling with energy. The oat-husk just moves a 

 tiny bit. The ant recognizes its powerlessness. It 

 goes off. Will it abandon the piece? Oh! no. 

 When one is an ant, one has the perseverance that 

 commands success. Here it is coming back with two 

 helpers. One seizes the oat in front, the others hitch 

 themselves to the side, and behold! it rolls, it ad- 

 vances; it will get there. There are difficult steps, 

 but the ants they meet along the route will give them 

 a shoulder. 



"They have succeeded, not without trouble. The 

 <at is at the entrance to the underground city. Now 

 things become complicated; the piece gets awry; 

 It aning against the edge of the hole, it cannot enter. 

 Helpers hasten up. Ten, twenty unite their efforts 

 without success. TW T O or three of them, engineers 

 perhaps, detach themselves from the band, and seek 

 the e.-mse of this insurmountable resistance. The 

 ditlienlty is soon solved: they must put the piece with 

 the point at the bottom. The oat is drawn back a 

 little, so that one end overhangs the hole. One ant 

 "S this end while the others lift the end that is on 



