S.KRAUSE

The Moral of the Story

Ant looked greedily at the bright red cherry there in front of him. It shone brightly in the noon sun, just as Ant, jet black with a hard outer skeleton, gleamed in his own mind. How proud he felt. The cherry looked so ripe and sweet. He strutted towards the treasure. Just as he hooked his jaw around the ripe fruit, Ant heard a flutter in the branches above. He turned his head, and saw Sparrow.

Sparrow looked contemptuously at Ant. ``Biting off more than you can chew, my friend?'' scolded Sparrow sarcastically.

``I found it first, bird,'' retorted the tiny, yet feisty, insect.

``I'm bigger than you, Ant. Move away, or you'll regret it.'' Sparrow flapped his feathered wings, preparing to dive.

Ant moved into a defensive stance, and taunted, ``Take it, if you can, you bird-brained worm-slurper.''

Sparrow dove from the branch, and Ant retreated under the a pile of leaves. After Sparrow landed, Ant stalked out into the open, and sunk his mandibles into Sparrow's foot. Sparrow countered in pain and anger, and bit Ant in two.

The bird then proceded to devour the fruit of his labors.

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Notes: The original title to this piece was ``The little Red Ball-shaped Thing the Size of an Eye Laying on the Ground, Still Attached to the Broken Branch of Wood that fell off the Cherry Tree Yesterday,'' which I shortened for this collection. The text was written as a sort of fable for my 9th grade reading class. It originally included an illustration drawn with a ballpoint pen on lined notebook paper. This was one of my first texts to include puns.