The Ant Enemy

The Ant Enemy

A seventh fable


Once upon a time, there lived a young Ant in a colony of ants. Ant was a happy ant and spent much of his time inventing things. He would make toys out of twigs and grains he had pulled off rocks and he used a special language he had created one afternoon.
One day, Ant noticed a group of birds flying around each other and he was so impressed by their movements that he began to dance. He made new moves and he would jump and hop to the wind and he began to include crawling and taps in his dances and nothing pleased him more than to dance.
For months, Ant danced alone and then once, he was seen by a group of older ants. They immediately came over and requested he stop his movements completely. Ant paused out of puzzlement. He asked them why they had made such a request but they were already retreating while glancing back over their shoulders at him. Ant shrugged eventually and went back to his dancing but slowly and with his mind elsewhere.
The following day, Ant danced and again, he felt that dancing was the best thing in his life and again, a group of ants saw him and demanded he stop dancing immediately. They said they were offended and Ant tried asking what was so offensive about some simple dancing but they began to gesture angrily and point at him and he thought he could always continue his dance elsewhere.
Later that evening, Ant approached the ant elders and asked them to explain to him why everyone was upset about his dancing and Ant knew he would get an answer because the elders were wise and calm and nothing frightened them. The elders told him that dancing was what the ant-eater did and he must never dance again. Ant tried saying that he meant nothing by his dancing and he only danced because he liked it but the elders would hear none of it. His dancing must stop completely or else he was betraying his fellow ants and had no place among the ants.
Ant went home with many thoughts on his mind. He had never met this ant-eater and he danced because he enjoyed it. He liked nothing more but here he was being called a traitor for doing what he liked and he did not wish to stop dancing despite what the elders had said. He thought that the elders were rather silly because they were meant to be wise and reasonable and here they were frightened of some tapping and hopping.
The next day, Ant picked up his bags and left the town. He had said he would live in a place where no one would be offended by his innocent love of dancing.
For many years, Ant lived alone and he never saw another ant again. Sometimes, especially when he was lonely, Ant wondered if he had made the right decision…