text: The Ant and the Grasshopper There once was a village of insects of all kinds. Ants, Beetles, Grasshoppers, Flies and Termites all living together. With so many bugs in one area it got crowded so they decided to send Dragonfly scouts to look for new areas to settle. One day Dragonflies returned to the village with wonderful news. They discovered a new meadow just over some hills that is full of seed producing plants and food. It would be a long trip but if they left now they could reach it with just enough time to harvest food for the winter. The Termites kind of ran the place and they liked their trees and colonies they had established so they decided not to brave the trip. Dragonflies and Flies don’t eat seeds and grass so they decided the trip wasn’t worth it either. But the Ants were hearty and their colony was growing so they needed the new meadow to feed their growing colony. And for the Grasshoppers a land of opportunity like this would be easy for them to reach because they can travel quickly with their powerful legs and wings so they decided to go as well. The Grasshoppers reached the meadow quickly. They established themselves and gorged on the leaves and seeds that were abundant, just as the Dragonflies had said. The ants got there a couple of days later and they began digging their colonies as the grasshoppers came and stopped them. “This land belongs to the grasshoppers, we claimed it two days ago and you are trespassing.” "Ok" the ants remarked "we will build our homes over there. On the other side of the meadow." "That belongs to grasshoppers as well. Grasshoppers have claimed all of the land in this Meadow." The ants didn’t know what to do. They were exhausted from the long perilous trip and lost many along the way. Then the grasshoppers spoke. “Let’s make a deal. How about we allow you to stay here and build your colony and harvest all the seeds you can carry but since it’s our land your colony is in and those are our seeds you harvest you have to give us half of what you collect before the winter.” The ants agreed knowing they might not survive the trip back to the village and who knows if the Termites would even allow them back? So the Grasshoppers hopped and played and ate their fill each day as the ants diligently worked to harvest as much as they could knowing half would have to be given to the Grasshoppers. As winter came the ants gave the grasshoppers their share of the food and everyone settled in for winter. There were far fewer grasshoppers than ants so they each were able to eat plenty all winter long. The ants had to ration their food so it would last all winter. Winter melted and spring came. The grasshopper that had claimed the land where the ant colony was located had passed away over the winter and the ants decided that now they will lay claim to the now vacant land because how can a dead bug own land? But the grasshoppers told the ants that the land was handed down to the children of the old grasshopper and they were the new owners. The old grasshopper had many children so now the grasshoppers demanded that this year the ants give them 3/4 of what they gather. The Ants protested. “We barely survived last year on half. How can we live on half that?” "Well if you don't like the deal you are free to move your colony somewhere else." The Grasshoppers said this knowing that the surrounding wilderness was full of dangers and harsh rocky terrain and moving would mean having to dig a whole new colony through hard clay. So the ants reluctantly agreed to the Grasshoppers terms. The ants doubled their efforts to gather as much as they could to meet the grasshoppers demands. They worked day and night, and produced so many drones to work that they were packed thorax to thorax. When winter came they had collected more seeds and food than anyone had ever seen in one place. More than the grasshoppers could eat in 10 lifetimes. “Wow” remarked the grasshoppers “You guys did great and you should be very proud of yourselves. We never thought anyone could gather this much. I guess the new percentage must have motivated you to do better. So next year our cut will be 90% of your harvest because we believe you can do it and this bold new goal will motivate you!.” The ants took their share home and that winter lost many. They couldn’t feed all the new drones they had to produce to meet the quota so they starved. This year the ants decided that 90% was too much. They decided to make a plan. They once again worked as hard as they could, even harder than the year before. They pushed their colony to the point where it was completely overcrowded, just a mass of ants living on top of one another ,a conveyor belt pushing food one direction to storage and new born ants to the outside to start working right away. The Grasshoppers were blown away again. “This is amazing guys. Even better than last year! We are so proud of everyone’s hard work that made this possible. We put out a goal and you all really rose to meet it. Congratulations.” And as the grasshoppers began to take their share of the food the ants approached to stop them. “We aren’t going to give you almost all of this food. None of you did any work all year, you sat around taking naps and hopping about eating whatever you pleased. We collected this food, and we need it to feed all of the ants that gathered it so you can’t have it all.” The grasshoppers scowled at the ants. “How ungrateful you all are. For generations our families have allowed you to live here in this land of plenty. All we have asked in return is compensation for the use of \*our\* land and we share with you \*our\* food. Would you rather leave this place for the wilds and we can simply hop about and eat as we please anyway? You only have what you have because we gave it to you and if now you are going to act bitter and envious we are going to have to ask you to leave.” “We won’t leave.” Said the ants “We have been in this meadow as long as you have and we have just as much right to be here. There are many more of us than you because we have been growing our numbers all year. You can’t stop us all from taking this food back to our colony” The ants then rushed to carry the food back to their colony. The grasshoppers chirped and birds and lizards swarmed the ants from the nearby bushes and tall grass. They devoured ant after ant as the ants begged surrender. After nearly all of the ants had been eaten, smashed, pecked or tore apart by strong grasshopper jaws one of the grasshoppers chirped again. The chaos stopped. "For this traitorous act you vile anarchists will lose half your share of the food and be grateful we are allowing you to have that along with your pitiful lives.You ants should have no trouble feeding your people now as there are far fewer of them." The Grasshoppers laughed and gave many seeds and leaves to the birds and lizards. And it continued like that every year. The ants would work as hard as they can so that their 10% would be enough to get them through the winter knowing that it won’t be and many will starve anyway. And the Grasshoppers always have an endless supply of lizards and birds to keep the ants in their place. Note from author: So I wrote this originally thinking of a reimagining of the classic fable but then my sister pointed out this is basically the plot of A Bug's Life lol.