Not far from Paris there lived a colony of red ants--great lazy fellows
who would not work and who would hardly find food for themselves. They
thought that a set of slaves would help them very much.
"If we had slaves," they said, "we should not have to milk our cows or
take care of our children."
So one fine morning they set out to conquer some weaker colony and make
slaves of the prisoners of war.
It was not long before they came upon a nest of black ants.
"These are good workers," said the lazy red ants. "They will make good
servants." So they fell upon the nests and carried off all the baby
ants.
"We could never carry the older ones so far," said the red ants, "but
these children will grow up before long."
This was true. Soon Alerta was a fine, strong young ant. One morning her
mistress tapped her on the shoulder.
"Do get me some food, please," said she.
"What would you like, and where shall I get it?" asked Alerta briskly.
She was glad to have something to do.
"Oh, run outside," said the red ant, "and you will find our cows grazing
on a rose-bush near the door."
Alerta ran up the narrow winding passage-way and came out in the warm
sunlight. Numbers of slaves were running about, but they were all so
busy that Alerta did not like to stop them.
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