SO THAT WE CAN ALL GO HOME (Chapters 9 & 10)

THE ANT MEETS THE GRASS CUTTER

          After walking some few meters the ant saw the grass cutter sleeping on the bare floor. “Good,” the ant said. “Now I wouldn’t have to go too far.”He tapped the sleeping grass cutter on the nose and continued, “Please sorry to wake you up my sleeping friend, the Grass cutter, but Mr. Bird needs assistance that I would have gladly given to him if I had teeth strong enough to destroy the bird catcher’s cage like yours.” The grass cutter managed to rise and said, “oh no, I feel so stupid. I should have done that earlier when I had the chance, but I was selfish. And now see, I am also trapped here in the hunter’s bait too.” He pointed to one of his injured hind legs, while he moaned. The ant saw the pinned leg to the bait and said, “That’s true! You too are trapped in the hunter’s bait; and with so much pain. I really feel very sorry for you, how I wish I could help.” 


   “The Monkey refused to help me when I saw him swinging past. But I wouldn’t want to blame him though; after all I have done the same thing to a fellow animal in distress too. And as the sage grass cutter used to tell us when we were young that the cane that was used to flog the old wife would later be used on the new one. I know I really deserved this, but I never knew that it would be this soon!”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” consoled the ant. “Can you still remember the direction Mr. Monkey had passed?”

          The grass cutter managed to point toward the lines of trees that appeared to form a boulevard in the jungle.  The ant said, “Okay, just hold on, I will try and see if I can still catch up with him. But if I can’t, I will look around and see if I can get a bigger animal. Maybe I can be lucky enough to convince the animal to come to your rescue and you too can free the bird and the bird can free the spider and we can all go home. Wait for me, I will be back,” he said and headed towards the boulevard.

ONLY THE ANT UNDERSTOOD

   The ant came across the snake who was just crawling out of the thicker part of the jungle. “Good day Mr. Snake.” The ant greeted, and the former answered warmly in return, “Good day my little friend, the Ant. You would be the first to greet me this week; please what can I do for you?” Then the ant continued, “Actually, my friend the grass cutter is trapped in the hunter’s bait somewhere in this jungle. And I don’t know if you can be kind enough to set him free by loosening the hold of the strong grip of the hunter’s bait on one of his hind legs so that he too can be free like you. And later he can free the Pigeon and the Pigeon too can break the spider’s web and rescue the fly before the spider returns and we all can all go home!”

“I would have loved to do that.” said the snake, “but it seems you have

forgotten that I have no hands, no palms and no claws.” Then the ant

realized that the snake was right. “It’s only unfortunate that the monkey

is no more in sight.” said the Ant slowly.

“The monkey?” asked the snake,” and the ant nodded.

“Please before I forget, whenever you come across Mr. Monkey,” continued the snake, “extend my greetings to him. I have looked around to thank him for what he did after I fell from the tree, but he seemed not to care about accepting a thank you from a crawler like me, so I couldn’t do that personally. But tell him that I am really very grateful for his concern.

     ”Ordinarily some other animals wouldn’t have bothered to notify me. They considered us snakes as the enemy. They have forgotten that we are the only prey in the animal kingdom. Just imagine no hands, no legs, no horn not even an ordinary fur or feather like the chicken to defend ourselves. God just hates us that much! Our bite is all that we have. And as you know, this is a hard-knock life! It’s a pleasure talking to you my little friend; other bigger animals just see me and run. Sometimes I tried to smile at them to show how friendly I am but it only makes matters worst.  But sometimes I wonder maybe I talk too much and it’s scaring them away. Please my little friend, the ant; do you think I talk too much? ...Oh not to worry, I think you can keep your honest opinion to yourself.  But please don’t forget to give my message to the Monkey, tell him he’s the man, I mean, he is the monkey!”

“And what has the monkey done for you to deserve all this many thanks from you if I may ask?” 

“You see, if it wasn’t for Mr. Monkey, one of my eyes, or maybe both would have been plucked by the eagle by now.”

“I still don’t understand, can you please explain further?” inquired the ant curiously.

“Okay! Earlier today, I went up the trees in search of what to eat. And when I got to there I was so carried away by the number of fresh eggs that was just laid in a next at the apex; they were sizzling hot I swear!  But unknown to me, they belonged to the mother eagle. Ordinarily, I would have seen her had it been I put my glasses on, but I forgot and left home without it today. So I positioned myself and was about to swallow the first one. And I did not even notice that the mother eagle was in sight and was coming down from the sky to pluck out one of my eye in bitter rage! But if not for the timely jerk on my tail by Mr. Monkey that drew me a little bit backwards, the eagle would have succeeded. So she hits her beak on one of her eggs and accidentally crushed it in the process. She became more furious and I knew I was in a bigger trouble so I quickly dropped from the tree to prevent a second attack. And when I got to the floor I hid myself in the nearest hole I could find and quickly covered the entrance with the closest leaves. The hole was smelly and dirty but what can I do in my present situation? Seconds later the Eagle came down and scattered everywhere under the tree just in search of me. I trembled quietly in the hole for hours hoping for her to go. And when she finally did, I took to my heels in the opposite direction and that was when I met you.”

“Wow! Now I see,” exclaimed the ant. He remembered he saw the flying eagle. It was one of the feathers that had accidentally fallen from her that had saved him from drowning.

“So my friend,” said the snake as he began to crawl away, “whenever you

see Mr. Monkey, tell him that I am indeed very grateful. That I owe him

one!”

The ant sighed. Only him had seen and had understood everything that had

happened in the jungle.