Arthur lived under ground, under a big old oak tree, he liked it there with all his sisters and brothers. Also there right in the middle of his nest was his mother. The Queen, you cannot mistake her, she is the biggest of all the ants, and has other ants running around her, looking after her, feeding her.
Now one morning Arthur awoke to such a commotion out side of his sleeping area, voice’s were shouting
“Quick, she’s in such a mood “
He then heard his mother screaming loud,
“ I will not eat any more of it, its “, then all went quiet for a bit, Arthur quickly got up, ran to the door to see a red faced sergeant running along the corridor he was huffing and puffing, Arthur followed him to the Queens chamber to see his mother even redder in the face then he was, Arthur scurried in, up to his mother
“What’s the matter mom?“ he looked around to see worker ants tending to his mother , they were trying to get her to eat the food they presented to her, this was a type of mushroom, it was all she had,
“Its this , its all I have to eat , they all say eat it your majesty, you need your strength your majesty,” she then grabbed hold of the food and threw it , it bounced of the fat sergeant with a red face, rolled on the floor till it was out of sight, the sergeant had just got to the inner chamber, he was spluttering and huffing trying to look important as he walked towards the Queen.
Now Arthur was a good son, he loved his mother and was always thinking of ways to please her, turning he shook his head, and headed out into the corridor, past the nursery, where ants were attending to all the eggs, and lave in another chamber he knew where the newly arrived young ants would be, he went up, up, up out into the forest, looked up at the big old oak tree, smiled, sniffed the air, scurried across the footpath which looked like a motorway to him, but was a path that humans made as they walked through the woods, sniffing the air all the time , turning his head as he sniffed, “ mmmmm I wonder what that is?” He smelt something different, he went up a hill, down the other side sniffing the air all the time, he came to a stream, it had a branch over it that had fallen over the stream one stormy night, he walked over the branch to the other side, but sniffing the air all the time, the smell was getting stronger.
He saw a hedge, the smell was coming from the other side of it, it was so strong now that he could taste it, he looked through the hedge and saw a lot of humans running up and down with string to a funny shaped thing in the sky, sniffing the air again he went towards the smell as it was getting, stronger, he came to a big long pole sticking out of the ground he looked up to it and saw that there was more wood laid in strips across it and there were three other poles at each end, well we know its called a picnic table , but poor Arthur didn’t, he climbed up, up to the top as this was where the smell was coming from.
Now on this table there where, sandwiches some where a meaty smell but no that’s not what he could smell, at last the one that was smelling so sweet was right in front of him, but the other side of this wooden thing, carefully he scurried across the wood to the strong sweet smell, we know it as a jam sandwich he sniffed it, then tasted it, “ now this will please mom “.
He picked a peace up to us it looked small, but to Arthur it was really a nice big piece, he hauled it up on to his back, and off he went, down, down the leg of the picnic table, scurried to the hole in the hedge, over the stream with the branch on it, over the hill and down the other side, all the time smelling the sweet smell of the Jam sandwich, across the footpath , that looked like a motorway, to the hole that led him to the ants nest, there he met the sergeant ,
“Halt , who goes there “ he boomed,
“ Awww come on you know its me Arthur, I have something that will make the Queen happier,” the sergeant looked at the item that Arthur was carrying , “ what is it ?” he asked , so Arthur explained all about it , the sergeant tasted a little tiny piece ,and loved it so much that he sent an army out to get more.
Arthur, took his to his mom, “Well mom, I have something here that tastes good, and is a lot better then that old fungus you have to eat “, she turned to it, sniffed it, tasted it, “Arthur that’s so good, what is it?” he grind, looked at his mom, and whispered to him self “a life saver, peace at long last.” Ahem, “it’s called a jam sandwich mom”. And there was peace for a long, long time after. So the next time his mom shouted and screamed he use to go out in the woods looking for nice things for his mom.
Now when ever you go out, and you don’t want any of Arthur’s family to come a visiting, always cover food up and make sure you clear all, of your leftovers, and any rubbish you finish with into a rubbish bin, or take it all home to put in your own.
(footnote When I use to tell my children this story I use to get them to join in, it also can be altered to something your child wont eat, but for some unknown reason when the Queen eats it they do)
