Chinni was a very hardworking ant. She used to work all day to earn daily bread for her family.
One day Chinni was carrying a grain of rice on her back. She met Rattu the Mouse on her way. Rattu was a lazy mouse. He never went to work. He always wanted to rob things that belonged to others.
Rattu saw Chinni and said, “Chinni, why have you lifted such a heavy grain? You might get crushed under it.”
Rattu’s words annoyed Chinni. She said, “It would be better if you do not comment on anything. You have no work, but I do. So please let me do my work.”
Rattu mockingly replied, “I am not stopping you. I want you to work hard. It is because of you that idle people like me get to eat two meals a day. If you don’t work hard, how will we get food?”
He said that, and immediately snatched the grain from Chinni. Before Chinni could say anything, Rattu ate it and said to her, “Go, hardworking Ant. Go and fetch another grain for your young ones, or else they will starve.”
Chinni was very angry with Rattu’s act. She was helpless as Rattu was mightier than her and that she could fight him alone. She went to the market and bought another grain to feed her young ones.
Although Chinni couldn’t fight Rattu but decided to teach him a lesson.
The next day, Chinni’s neighbor, Mini came home weeping. Chinni asked her as to what was the matter. Mini said, “I was carrying a lump of jaggery on my back. On my way home, Rattu snatched the jaggery and ate it. Now it is too late to go back to the market and fetch some food. My children will have to sleep without having their dinner.”
Chinni felt sorry for Mini. She said, “Do not worry. You and your kids can dine at my house tonight. We will surely teach a lesson to Rattu.”
Chinni served dinner to Mini and her kids.
Rattu had now started coming near the Anthill to rob food. He used to stand there and keep a watch on the ants. He snatched all the food that the Ants wanted to carry home. He ate jaggery, rice, sugar lumps etc from the anthill.
Rattu had begun to trouble all the ants. Chinni took all of them to Queen Madhulika. The Queen heard them and understood that the ants wanted to get rid of Rattu.
She said, “However mighty our enemy may be, we can defeat him if we fight together. You all will have to help the army in facing the mouse. Are you ready to help me?”
Chinni said, “Your Highness, we understand that we will have to unite and face our enemy. We will die of hunger if we do not destroy our enemy. Our unity will become our biggest strength.”
The Queen was impressed by Chinni’s brave attitude. She said, “You are indeed brave, Chinni. I promise you all that if any Ant dies during the battle, their kids will be taken care of by me. I will see to it that they get proper food and shelter.”
The very next day, the Ants got ready for the attack. As soon as they saw Rattu coming near their Anthhill, they marched towards him with swords and spears. Rattu was astonished to see hundreds of Ants approaching him with tiny swords and spears.
The moment the Ants tried to attack Rattu, he smacked the Ants with his claws. But some of the Soldier Ants caught a tight grip of his claw and started biting him fiercely.
Some of the Ants attacked him from behind; some attacked his face whereas some targeted his body.
Rattu tried to free himself but failed. He realized that it was difficult to fight the huge number of ants, and thus it is best to run away from there.
Rattu ran away but still some Ants got stuck to his body and kept biting him continuously. Rattu could not bear the pain. He jumped into a puddle of water, tried to roll over the sand, but the Ants did not spare his body.
Rattu was experiencing immense pain in his body. He then sat on a stone and started picking each Ant out of his body. His body had swollen due to the bites of the Ants.
Rattu somehow managed to survive amidst all this. But he had experienced the power that the Ants possessed in unison. He became aware that their unity had become their strength.
He never came to the anthill and swore to not trouble any ants henceforth.
