TEASING THE ANTS 83 



ANT. No. When winter comes we store food, close the 

 door and wait for spring. An ant doesn't have to eat so 

 much in winter time when it is quiet and not working. 



Teasing the Ants. 



FLORENCE. I handled a straw today and threw it and 

 another one down by the door. The ants bit the handled 

 one from end to end before carrying it out, but took the 

 other one away at once. 



ANT. Their fine sense of smell made them suspicious of 

 the first one. 



DOROTHY. Why don't you run home when I whip you 

 with a straw? 



ANT. Home is a poor place to take an enemy. What 

 we want at such times is the enemy. 



DOROTHY. When I tease you with a straw and throw 

 you down by the door, you just run back and search 

 for me. 



ALBERT. When I punch you with a straw, why do you 

 grip it with your jaws and let me carry you away? 



ANT. We bite an enemy to hurt it and hold on for the 

 same reason. We don't think of ourselves. 



ALBERT. But you will hold onto a seed and let me 

 carry it home for you. 



ANT. I would hold onto a seed while an ant carried it 

 home, too, if it was my seed. 



ALBERT. Maybe you don't know when you are being 

 carried. Once a railway train was carrying me when I 

 thought it was not moving. Another train alongside 

 fooled me. 



ANT. I don't know. You didn't know whether you 



