LESSON 32 THE KING AND THE ANTS

THE KING AND THE ANTS

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1. Long ago, in a far-off Eastern land, there lived a great king who was known as the wisest man in all the world.

2. So wise was he that men said he could even understand the speech of beasts and birds and insects.

3. One day he was riding out from his city gates with all his lords of state and his war-chiefs behind him.

4. The queen of a country called Sheba, who had heard of his great wisdom, and who, at that time, was paying him a visit, rode beside him.

5. Now, right in the path of the King's big white horse rose an ant-heap. The tiny insects were running all over it in a great hurry before the King reached it.

6. It seemed to him that he could hear them saying: "Alas! alas! Here is the greatest and wisest king in all the world coming to trample on us, and crush us in the dust!"

7. When he told the Queen of Sheba what he had heard, she said: "It is only right that such small things should be crushed under the feet of so great a man as you, O King."

8. The King smiled. "No," said he, "the wise and strong ought never to hurt the weak." Then he turned his horse aside and rode round the ant-heap.

9. All those behind him did the same, making a wide curve as they rode; and so the little ants were left in peace.

HE RODE ROUND THE ANT-HEAP.

10. The Queen of Sheba bowed her head. "No wonder men call you wise," said she. "It is a happy land whose king thinks even of the poor and lowly and sees that no one hurts them."