Reading the story with your Child
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Allow your child to read this story to you. If your child does not understand a word or is unable to pronounce it, please assist him/ her by defining or providing the correct pronunciation of the word. Let your child repeat the word a few times. Listen for the correct pronunciation of beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

At the end of the story, ask your child a few questions about the story’s plot. Or, have your child retell the story in his/ her own words. Then, have your child click the "comprehension quiz" button.

"How the Ant Made a Bargain"
Based on a story by Rudyard Kipling
Page 1


Now I shall tell you a story of the hot and humid days at the beginning of the world, when the Queen of all the Ants lived in the dark damp bottom of the forest with her many daughters.  


The Queen was a very wise Ant, for she knew many secrets and a little bit of magic besides. All the same she was often bored, for her main job was egg laying. If you have ever tried laying eggs, Best Beloved, you will have discovered that it is a tedious task, rather like washing dishes. But without eggs, there soon would be no daughter ants to burrow and build and forage and fight. So the Queen tried to make the best of things by thinking up new and interesting ideas.


One hot, stuffy day the Queen noticed that some of her daughters were very strong and brave, and these she instructed to become soldiers and guard the ant colony from harm. Many mammals thought ants were especially tasty delicacies, and would eat them right up whenever they could.

Next, the Queen noticed that some of her daughters were extremely sturdy and hard working, and these she instructed to become workers and gather new foods for the colony. Certain plants, in the ants' habitat, had a keen preference for not being eaten by ants, and so grew thick and tough and tasted of poisons.


And, in this way, the Queen Ant invented Specialization (which is, Best Beloved, only a fancy way of saying that different people do different things). And the Queen laid eggs and thought wise thoughts in her nest in the dark damp bottom of the forest, while her specialized colony grew prosperous and large.

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