Queen Lucky and the Ants ~
There once was a king called King Ludwick. He was ruler over
the land of Scattered Dwellings. One day King Ludwick was sitting on his throne
beside his wife, Queen Lucky. He was thinking about his great kingdom, and the
thought crossed his mind that it was quite boring being king. He just sat there
all through the day, ruling over a great kingdom in which he knew no one but
his servants.
“My dear,” he said to Queen Lucky, “wouldn’t our kingdom be
a happier, more interesting place if everyone lived as one, everyone knowing
everyone else, living together in pleasant harmony?”
“Why, my dear,” said the queen excitedly, “I did not know
you had thought of it, but I have contemplated the situation many times, and I
do have an idea.”
“Oh do you, Queen Lucky?!” The king could hardly wait to
hear her idea. “Whatever is it?”
“Well, dear,” she replied, “it would take years to
accomplish, but I was thinking that…”
“That what? Go on, go on.”
“Well, we could take all the buildings in our entire kingdom
and build them into one gigantic interconnecting household. It would be like
one big family.”
“What?! Why, that’s absurd! When you said years, I
thought you meant two or three, not a hundred!
The idea’s out of the question.”
“But, dear, my title is Queen Lucky. Haven’t my ideas always
brought good fortune to you in the past?”
“Well,” replied the king, beginning to mellow, “yes. But how
do you propose…?”
“To do such a
thing?” Queen Lucky completed. “You shall see. I say it won’t take but ten years.”
“Maybe you are right, but we’ll have to get started right
away. You know, I’m not getting any younger, and I want to see the Kingdom of
Scattered Dwellings in unity before the day of my demise.”
“I assure you, my sweet, you will.”
And with that, the queen began to put her outrageous plan
into action. That very afternoon, she made a speech from her balcony to the
whole kingdom, telling them all the marvelous advantages of a united civilization
in one huge monstrosity of a household.
When the people heard this, everyone wanted to help.
Volunteer workers came from miles across the vast kingdom to the front steps of
the palace to begin the connecting project. The closest houses were moved
first, and it went well. Everything seemed to match accordingly, and those who
were experts in engineering and building were assigned to oversee various
sectors.
Five years went by. All the closest homes were connected
with the palace, as well as all the homes across the River Endless. Those had
to be moved on large ferry-type vessels called heave-easy’s. The only dwellings
left to relocate were those at the top of the Mountain Un-climbable.
“Oh, goodness!” lamented the queen to her husband one day. “How on earth are we going to move the
dwellings at the top of Un-climbable? I never even thought about it in all
these five years.”
“Oh, heavens! We did forget,” said the king. “How could
we? I guess we’re just getting old.”
“Speak for yourself,” retorted the queen defensively. “I
know my mind is not too weak to come up with a solution. We’ll try everything
until we succeed!”
The queen’s first plan was to wet down the mountain and push
the houses down the slope gently. One crew would harness, and then with a great
deal of momentum, push a house down.
Another crew, at the mountain’s base, would lasso the house as it came down so
it would come to an easy halt. This was tried, and failed.
The first house to take the awful plunge was ruined.
Connection processes were stopped in order to reconstruct another house to
replace the demolished one. This took only two months. But it took the queen nine months to come up with another plan
that would not fill the mind of poor King Ludwick with dismay. The second plan
was to “ski” the houses down the mountain during the next snow.
A month after this plan was devised, there came a great
blizzard. It snowed and snowed all across the Kingdom of Scattered Dwellings. Everything
was covered in white--even part of King Ludwick’s hair, on account of worry.
Ropes were tied around the first house, then it was raised
with special jacks and large, custom-made skis were placed underneath it. With
a great push from the moving crew, the house was pushed down the snowy slope,
along with skiers who also lived on the mountain holding various parts of the
harness and skiing alongside the house to steer it.
It looked like it would work. There were hopeful smiles on
the faces of the onlookers below. But just at the last instant, at the foot of
the mountain, the harness snapped in two. People fell back onto the snow, and
the impact caused the house to tumble over and shatter.
That house was rebuilt, but it was very large and took an
entire year. Now seven years had been used up, but Queen Lucky was not to be
outdone. She had forgotten a way for the skiers to get back up the mountain,
but she held her head high and said, “I have still another plan.”
This plan was to send the twenty best climbers up the
mountain. Sure, it was risky, but it was worth a try. It was with hopeful
hearts and wills written that the climbers set out the next day to attempt the
treacherous climb. With onlookers cheering, they began. Up they went, the first
few feet. There were slips and even some scary falls, but the mountain had been
shaped enough by the queen’s first two plans that the climbers made it by 4:00 p.m.
the next day. Everyone was glad, and the mountain’s name was changed to Mount
One Climb.
Now only the second part of Queen Lucky’s plan was left to
accomplish. The climbers had carried wheels with them which they were to put
under the twenty houses at the top of the mountain. One person was assigned to “ride”
in each house. His or her job was to run
back and forth in the house until it started sliding down the mountain. As it
went, the “runner” would then run from room to room for balance. The rider was
to jump out a window at the bottom of the mountain, and the people already
stationed at the bottom were to stop the house.
The first house made it down the mountain, and the rider
escaped safely. But before the house could be brought to a complete stop, it
hit a rock and went sailing over everyone’s heads, coming down with such a loud
crash that it shook the ground and smashed the house to smithereens. It took
five months to replace the house.
That was seven years and five months used up out of the
allotted ten years. Queen Lucky’s plans had failed three times, and she was
about ready to give up. She said to King Ludwick, “I am no longer worthy to be
called Queen Lucky, for I have failed three times.”
“But, queen dear,” said the king, “the third time is a
charm. I’m sure there is at least one
sensible solution left.”
So the king comforted his poor queen and they both began to
think. All of a sudden, Queen Lucky had an idea. “Ludwick, dearest,” she
declared, “you know, there are at least a million anthills on this side of
Mount One Climb.”
“Yes, well?”
“Well, I was thinking, if we let those ants know that they
could have all of Mount One Climb for an anthill and be united as one like we
want to be…”
“Oh!” shouted the king. “I think I’ve got it. They would
carry the houses down.”
“Possibly, but we’d have to find someone who speaks Ant to
tell them.”
The king and queen called a meeting that night of all their
advisors and, at once, began the search.
In seven months, an old man named Frederick O’Bannon was
found. He claimed he could speak any language, but he had to have a million
dollars in his hands before he could do it, and there could be no one else
around. This sounded suspicious. He would probably just run off with all the
money. So the search was continued.
In another half a year (now the project had reached eight
and a half years), a man by the name of Kooko Cola was found. He claimed to
have grown up with ants and therefore, learned their language. He was tried but
found that these were a different type of ant. The search went on, but with not
much hope left.
Six months later, though, a man called Sig Starbuck was
located. He was poor, old, and wise and seemed like an honest man. He told the
king’s men, “I may look like a fool, but I can, in fact, speak Ant. I want no
money, but I would like to be a part of this great united kingdom if I could.”
It was agreed.
Starbuck conveyed the message with great success, and the
ants began. It took an entire year, but they did it! It was exactly midnight on
the last day of the ten years when the last house was connected--Sig Starbuck’s--who
had patiently waited for the others to be moved. Because of his honest, humble
character and his key role in the success of this massive venture, he was
placed third in power in the kingdom, and everyone was happy.
All that was left was to extend proper gratitude to the
ants. King Ludwick delivered a message through Sig, who translated the king's
words: “We are forever in your debt. May you live in peace on the mountain for
generations to come.”
Then King Ludwick turned adoringly to his wife. “Queen
Lucky, you have brought great honor once again. Your plan has brought me Sig
Starbuck, and his goodness has been reward enough for this ten-year struggle. I
shall never doubt you again.”
And he never did.
The End
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