In a forest, a busy colony of black ants lived in tiny holes in the ground. Tiny holes, long, tiny underground passageways gave access to the black ants' wonderful underground palace.
In this underground palace there were large, large rooms, filled from floor to ceiling with the accumulated grain, fine breadcrumbs and all the other foodstuffs on which the ants live. For it is well known that the ant is a very industrious animal and gathers its food all summer long, so that in winter it can retreat to its underground palace to escape the cold and live a carefree life.
But there were other rooms in the great palace of the ants, these rooms were arranged as stables by the black ants, and in these stables lived a strange animal even smaller than an ant, this animal was the cow of the ants.
Because believe it or not, the black ants have a cow too, it's a wonderful little animal, the ants milk it every day and they love the sweet milk of this little cow.
In one of the great halls of the palace lived the queen of the black ants. Her subjects looked upon her with superstitious reverence, and the ants had every reason to do so, for this queen was five times the size of any other ordinary ant.
So the black ants lived happily in their wonderful underground palaces, going about their daily work in peace and returning tired after their work to their well-deserved rest.
Then one fine day, something sinister happened. There were tiny ants on the forest edge, and these tiny guards returned to the palace with bad news.
- Everybody get ready! To arms! - shouted the small guards, panting. - The enemy red ants are coming! They are wandering in endless droves and they have vowed to kill us so fast that we won't even have a messenger left!
And these little guards were telling the truth. For from far away lands the fearsome red ant people were on the move, and in great masses they surged forward, destroying everything before them.
But the black ants did not despair. They began to prepare for the life-and-death struggle.
The chief of the worker ant department gathered the worker ants, who were responsible for protecting the underground ant city and food supplies.
The giant jawed ant colonies met in the palace's largest hall and then, led by their commander, formed up in military formation and marched off to battle. They surged in fours, their great jaws trembling fearfully, the trumpeter sounding the alarm in a belligerent voice.
The warlord of the black ants formed a semicircle of his army of deli and spied the countryside from afar. Slowly, the outposts of the warlike red ants appeared. They crept cautiously forward, and behind them, through the dry leaves of the fallen trees, the red ants' waist swarms were already breaking through.
Indeed, the red ant people were a formidable warrior race, much bigger and stronger than the black ants. But they protected their nests, and for the tiny ants this gave them lion-like courage.
The horns sounded, the two armies clashed. The braves fought desperately and the rush of the red ants shook the ranks of the black ants.
However, a small brave band of black ants flanked the enemy and, just as they were about to triumph, suddenly struck them from behind.
There was great confusion and confusion in the ranks of the red ants. Enemies in front, enemies behind, as if the determined little black ants had grown out of the ground.
Running is a shame, but it is useful. The fearsome army of red ants took to the run, and the black ants chased them across the iodine field, finally exhausted from the battle, they returned to their underground city.
The wounded were gathered up and dressed, and leaving sentries outside the gates, they retired to their magnificent underground palace and, having washed away the dust of battle, held a great victory celebration in the evening.
- Hey, there were bright lights in the queen's palace, the valiant knights of the Deli danced with the delicate ant women.
