22 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



Slaves. 



ALBERT. Do you keep slaves? 



ANT. No, but some ants do. Some of our ants are much 

 smaller than others, but they are not slaves. Most colonies 

 of ants have different sizes in each family. I don't suppose 

 all men are equal in size, even in the same family. 



ALBERT. How do ants get slaves? 



ANT. They steal the babies of other ants and raise them. 



ALBERT. Do slaves ever try to run away? 



ANT. No. They like their job. Some kinds of ants 

 would starve without them, and some are so helpless that 

 they have to be carried around by their slaves; they even 

 can't feed themselves on account of their small, weak 

 mouth-parts, such as our kings have. 



ALBERT. I think the weak ants are really the slaves, 

 then. Man better look out and not get too many servants. 



ANT. As the weak ants need no workers, they have 

 none, 'and are all kings or queens, of course. 



ALBERT. I see the effect of slavery when carried on 

 long enough. And with more time I think these weak 

 colonies of kings and queens will all die off. It's best to 

 keep on working as your colony does. But we all want to 

 be kings or queens, don't we? 



DOROTHY. Suppose you tell us about the Amazon ants. 



ANT. A single ant generally gives up when attacked 

 by several of the enemy, but not an Amazon. To fight is 

 its whole business of life, and yet it does no work. It is 

 washed, fed and carried by slaves. 



