Roly Poly and the Ant

by Linda Louise Rigsbee

Roly Poly was busy eating a dead leaf when Ant visited. 

“Come with me,” Ant said. “They are having a picnic in the meadow.”

“No,” Roly Poly said.  “I don’t like picnics.  Little boys are there and they always pick me up.”

“Gosh,” Ant said.  “They always push me away.  If they bother me, I just bite them.”

“I can’t bite them,” Roly Poly said.  “I don’t have pinchers like you do.  I just roll up into a ball.”

“Well, if you’re afraid to go, then I’ll go by myself,” said Ant.  He ran away towards the meadow.

Roly Poly dropped the leaf.  “Wait for me.  You always get into trouble.”

Roly Poly ran as fast as he could on his many tiny legs.  Still he could not catch up with Ant.  Naturally, Ant reached the picnic first. 

“Look!” cried Ant. “They have a basket of food sitting on the ground!”

“Wait for them to throw something away!” cried Roly Poly.  Ant was always in a hurry.  That was what got him into so much trouble.

But Ant didn’t listen.  He couldn’t wait for scraps.  He always wanted something better than what he had.  Ant ran across the open space and crawled into the picnic basket. 

“Come in!” he yelled.  “There is plenty of food!”

Roly Poly crawled up on a stick to watch.  Soon a woman walked toward the basket. 

“Get out, Ant!” screamed Roly Poly.  “A woman is going to pick up the basket!”

But before Ant came out, the woman picked up the basket and set it on a blanket.

“Now!” Roly Poly cried.  “Get out!”

But Ant stayed inside the basket.  Roly Poly started to crawl off the stick, but when he moved a little boy saw him.  Roly Poly tried to hurry, but the boy reached down and grabbed him by the shell.  Roly Poly rolled into a ball.

“Help!” he screamed. 

Ant raced out of the picnic basket, his mouth full of bread.  He ran to the little boy and crawled into his sandal.  The little boy placed Roly Poly into his other hand and pushed him with his finger.  Roly Poly rolled in his hand and the boy giggled.

Then the boy screamed and dropped Roly Poly.  He took off the sandal and threw it down.  Ant held on to the shoe as long as he could, but he finally fell.  The little boy looked at the red spot on his toe and cried very loud. 

“That’s what he gets,” Ant said.  “But I lost my bread in that sandal.”  He started toward the sandal. 

“Stop.” Roly Poly called after him.  “Here comes the mother!”

The mother looked at the little boy’s toe.  “An ant bit you, didn’t it?  Bad ant.”

Ant was almost to the shoe when the little boy reached for it. 

“Look out!”  Roly Poly cried.  “The little boy is coming.”

But Ant didn’t listen.  He wanted to get the piece of bread on the sandal. 

Roly Poly was safe where he was.  The little boy had forgotten about him when Ant bit him.  Roly Poly uncurled and started crawling as fast as he could toward the ant.

The little boy saw Roly Poly again and ran around the shoe. 

“There you are,” the little boy said.  “I didn’t mean to drop you.” 

Roly Poly tried to run away, but he wasn’t fast enough.  The little boy picked him up again.

“Look, mommy!” the little boy said.  “I found a roly poly.”

Mother came over to look.  “Yes.  My, he is a big one!”

Ant grabbed the bread and raced under a big leaf.  There he watched them.

Roly Poly stayed curled into a ball while the little boy poked him around his hand, laughing at how he rolled.

“Now put him down,” the mother said.  “It’s time to eat.”

“Can I take it home?” the little boy asked his mother.  “I can put him in a jar.”

“No,” the mother said.  “We don’t need any more Roly Poly’s at home.  They are eating up my garden now.  A roly poly belongs out here in the woods.”

The little boy closed his hand with Roly Poly.  He raised his hand to throw Roly Poly.  But the mother stopped him.

“Don’t throw him.  You might hurt him.  Put him on the ground where you found him.”

So the little boy put Roly Poly on the ground and let him crawl away.  While the family went back to their picnic, Roly Poly and Ant hurried to the safety of the woods.

“Whew!” Ant said. “That was close.”

“You shouldn’t have gone into the picnic basket,” said Roly Poly.

“I would have been fine if it hadn’t been for you getting picked up by the boy,” said Ant.

“They always put me down after a while,” Roly Poly said.  “You didn’t need to bite the boy.”

“They squish ants,” said Ant

“That’s because you bite,” said Roly Poly.

“I can’t roll up like you,” said Ant.  “And you didn’t come back with any bread.”

“The woods are full of food,” said Roly Poly.

“But not bread,” said Ant.

Ant was never happy with what he had.  He always had to go looking for what someone else had. 

Some days later, while Roly Poly was eating more dead leaves, three strange roly poly’s joined him.

“Where did you come from,” asked Roly Poly. “I haven’t seen you before.”

“A little boy brought us here in a jar,” said one of the roly poly’s.  “His parents brought him on a picnic and he let us go.”

“A picnic!” Ant cried. 

“Oh no, not again!” cried Roly Poly.

But Ant was already running for the meadow.  This time Roly Poly didn’t follow Ant.  As long as there were picnics, Ant would always be running off to join the party.

“Well,” Roly Poly said to the others.  “There is lots of food for all of us right here.”

And so it was that the four roly poly’s lived happily ever after in their neck of the woods.