14 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



much trouble, but they pick the other up and carry her 

 off the premises. Look at her hike out ! 



Ants Carry Nest Mates Around. 



KENNETH. I'm afraid you are cannibals. 

 ANT. White ants are. We may eat the dead of another 

 kind. But what if we are cannibals? Some tribes of 

 men are. 



CECIL. Red ants attack and even murder and eat their 

 own kind, and I've seen yours do about the same except to 

 eat their nest mates. 



ANT. What do you mean? Are we not very peaceable? 



CECIL. Yours often drag some of the family out of the 

 house. I saw three cripple another one in forcing it out of 

 the nest, and once I saw an ant killed in that way. Do 

 you punish bad ants? 



ANT. If a man had the smallpox, would you take him 

 out of town as a punishment? Wouldn't you take him, 

 whether he wanted to go or not? 



KENNETH. Don't you have any doctors? 



ANT. We just carry the sick ants out of the house, as 

 you know. 



ALBERT. What do you do with an ant that loses her 

 mind? 



ANT. Why ask? I say we carry our sick ants out of 

 the house. 



ALBERT. What is the easiest way to make a mad ant 

 helpless? 



ANT. Cut one of her feelers off. 



ALBERT. But what if an ant refuses to work, whether 

 she is sick or not. 



