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Show 32 PRINCESS MARY'S (JIFT BOOK, THE ANT-LION like the Crab, he can only really walk backwards, which is not exactly the way to overtake your quarry when it's in front of you. To be fat and heavy. to V'fllk backwards and to be obliged to have live Ant for one‘s dinner is a dillicult. a very ditlicul t problem. \Vhat would you do in such a case ? Conic, try to find someth ing i Rack your brains! You can think of nothing? \‘Vell, never mind: plenty of others. including myself. could not think of anything either. Everyday common-sense, expressed in proverbs, tells us over and over again that necessity is the mother of inventi on. This great truth, which we have learnt by personal experience. we shall learn once more from the Ant-hu nter. But first let us give him a name, to simplify our Naturalists call him the Ant-lion. a very reminds us that, like the Lion, he lives by carnagehappy term, which , slaughtering live prey, in this case Ants. Now that we have christened him we can go on. \Vhen he wants his dinner, the Ant»lion says to himself: Story. " You're a fat little beggar, you know, short-legged and slowmoving ; you‘ll never catch Ants by runnin g after them. On the other hand, you can walk backwards, that's capital ; you have a head flattened like a iiavvys shovel, that's first-rate; your pincers are long and grip like a knife. that‘s perfect , absolutely perfect. \Ve'll use that talent for walking backwards ; we‘ll use those tools, the shovel and tongs ; we'll make craft take the place of the agility which we lack ; and the dinner will come along." No sooner said than done. In a nice and sheltered from the rain by an overhadry spot, warmed by the sun nging rock, the wily animal selects a place where Ants are incessa ntly ineving to and fro on house- Gravely, with the mathematical accuracy of an engineer tracing the foundation of a well-pl anned building, the Ant-lion walks backwards. with his body dug into the sand; he turns and turns and 1]]. this way hollows out a groove shaped like a perfect circle. Then, still moving backwards and still digging deeper and deeper into the sand, he repeats the Circuit hold matters. many times over, but gradua lly coming nearer the centre, where he arrives in the end. If any obstacle, such as a large bit of gravel. which would spoil the work, makes its appearance, the Ant-hon takes it on his flat head and, with a vigorous jerk of his neck. thugs it to a distance over the edge of the hole. \Vc should a_ shovel in exactly the same use way to throw out the rubbish when digging. 33 The result of this labour is a sort of funnel, two inches Wide and a little less in depth. For that, matter, each Ant-hon SCQOPS_III?S?lf out one proportioned to his size: the larger ones, the .gizlints o trio family, produce one almost big enough to hold an orange , t 16' yollmf'lll and smaller ones are content With a hollow which a walnut won d 1‘. But, whether great funnels or modest Idents. all these. cavities aie constructed on one and the same principle: the slope is \ery steep and formed of extremely loose sand; nothing, however light, canuset foot upon it without producing a landslip, followed by a headlong la . \Vhen the work is finished, the scoundrel buries himself in the sand, right at the bottom of the funnel; his .pInC‘CI'S alone lappeaiv'cplitside, ever ready to snap, but nevertheless hidden as far as possi le. And now the Aiit-lion remains completely motionless and waits, 1e waits for hours, for days, for weeks, if necessary, tor his patiencp is unequalled; he waitslffor his dinner to come to him, as he canno g0 ' .1. himse . . . Y afterlliétdiiisnilo as he does and wait, very attentively. \Vhat Will happen? See, an Ant comes trotting along. susiiectiiig 1(H1)l{il:;i:n11£ bringing a little honey in her crop for her mates, p710 are \lv'inonhule a distance, just as the goodwde,‘ on the stroke 0 "IiOUII‘, )iilg:S in reaper his midday meal in the fields. In her lllllfil}, 91)})é11d1. 't her heedlessness, she has not seen the preeipice. blie steps uponli‘,‘ but only just on the edge. It makes no difference :1 .5 sooiinazhiilc‘: foot is on the perfidious slope, the sand gives way an} ‘1 iclpofiC mm: is dragged down. If our eyes were sharp enough, \le l ittip (Us , h of fierce delight betrayed by the formidable JUAVS att it of) flip. d with Thank goodness! A InICI‘OSCOIHC'btt of straw has tll.(,ll(,tl(, X t the landslide. The fall ends in the middle of the slope; am 1th and, recovering" her balance. tries to scramble back to thc'topl.1 V16 saiih trickles under her feet; no matter: she goes to work ."ltl so inn; . prudence. she so skilfully makes use of the smallest solid suppoi t.,1s l: is so careful to move sidewi ‘s instead of going straight up the :opp that it looks as though the climb ought to b: achieved withrliilit \Uilli ll!'l[)t§(llnl(‘nl;. Iler knees. her dchcate'teclers_ seem atilcm if (1 i‘ €X(‘ltL‘I)1Cnt. One more effort, only a little effort, anth IL 1111?, done. The edge is there, close by; the Ant must I‘(‘:l('l1 it]. . H 111115Alas, slic‘docs not reach it! Suddenly from the §\\"1L1['Leilin(l upon the poor wretcli, thick as hailstoues, a rain 0? influlillzgu "'1"; which, for the tiny Ant, is as bad as a regular rain o In. )J .. mam Mnu‘hl |