sherwood] THE FOUNDER OF A CITY 255 



her, or was it only an instinctive passion that she did not under- 

 stand? All at once something made her rush ahead, followed by 

 all the other royal children. Perhaps the mysterious ant instinct 

 made some sign or rang a curious wedding bell that was heard in 

 every city of little brown ants throughout the garden. For as the 

 Princess rushed from under the stone other winged brown ants 

 came running out from beneath other stones; each one at eager to 

 see and fly as she was. 



She stopped, with the bright yellow light in her eyes — as her 

 brothers and sisters hurried out. A little breeze came and her 

 wings seemed to spread themselves. She was flying up and away 

 in the sunlight, and the earth was green and purple and golden! 

 The sunny air was filling her body with its lightness and she flew 

 faster and higher, seeing nothing but yellow light. Suddenly she 

 felt a swift thing brush her body as it flew by — and she was in the 

 midst of a swarm of flying ants, with wings that flashed with rain- 

 bow colors. 



They flew and flew for hours above the garden, drinking the sun- 

 lit air. After a long while a lithe little Prince with sparkling wings 

 flew close to the Princess and touched her lightly and stayed beside 

 her as they went on. The ant swarm became smaller as some grew 

 tired and flew to the ground. When there were scarcely any left 

 the Prince and Princess fluttered down together, full of love for 

 each other and of the sun's breath. They reached the brown 

 earth and rested under a grass blade. Their wedding was over 

 and the tiny Prince had poured his life into a sacred sac in the body 

 of his Queen. As she watched him crawl away to a dark hiding 

 place perhaps her wild joy left her, — or else her instinct did not 

 tell her that her little King's life was of no more use and he would 

 never dance about nor fly or even eat, again. He had given her all 

 the energy he had, to keep for the many years she was to live, and 

 in a few days or weeks he would die. When the Queen had rested 

 thoughtfully for a while she slowly walked away, under the grass 

 blades and flowers. 



Her instinct led her on and on over the rough earth, and stones, 

 and once she was almost caught by a cruel spider who hung in her 

 web across the Queen's path. The sunshine grew fainter and less 

 warm, and the bright colors seemed to fade a little. It was quite 

 dark and cool when she crept under some leaves close to the stalk 

 of a rose bush, folded her wings, and lay very still. Her wedding 



