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| KERENGGA : WEAVER ANTS |
There was once a kingdom of ants deep inside a forest. Raja Kerengga, the ruler of the kingdom, was a wise and just sultan. He was highly respected and loved by all his subjects.
Whenever there were problems among his subjects, Raja Kerengga was able to overcome them by making good decisions. As a result, there was always peace and harmony among the ants in his kingdom. There was no hatred and jealousy.
One day there was a heavy rainfall and the ants started to panic. Raja Kerengga was worried for his subjects. He know that he had to do something quickly to save his people.
He called his advisor and said, ''The rain is very heavy. If it does not stop, I'm afraid that there will be serious flooding. Our kingdom is in great danger,'' said the sultan.
''You are right,Tuanku! What do you think we should do to save ourselves?'' asked the advisor.
''Shall we move to the higher parts of the trees?'' suggested Raja Kerengga. ''But what if the floods are really bad, Tuanku? We will still be in danger of getting drowned!'' replied his advisor.
''May i propose that we find shelter inside a cave. We can keep the water out by closing the mouth of the cave.''
Raja Kerengga was pleased with this suggestion. ''That is a brilliant idea. Now go and quickly find a suitable cave and instruct all our people to move into it. Do not waste any more time!'' ordered the king.
The same day the ants moved into the cave. Now, they were safe from the floods. Outside the cave the flood water rose high and destroyed many parts of the forest.
Although the ants were now safe from the floods, they were not able to find food. Soon many of the ants died of starvation. Raja Kerengga was greatly saddened by this.
One day his advisor approached the king and said, ''The ants are starving, Tuanku.We don't have any food left. If we don't go out and find food, soon all of us will surely die.''
Raja Kerengga turned to another advisor and said, ''We have to do something! Otherwise, we will all die here. Do you have any idea?''
The advisor spoke up, ''Your Highness, I have a suggestion. Let us tie up our stomach. If our stomachs are tightened, We will not feel hungry.''
Raja Kerengga agreed with the suggestion and ordered everyone to tighten their stomach until their stomach become very small.
All the ants immediately followed the advice of their sultan.
After many days, the floods started to subside. The ants felt happy that they could now go out and find some food.
They started moving slowly out of the cave to return to their former ground. They loosened their stomach and started leading a normal life. But after a few weeks,they realized that their stomach remained the same as it was in the cave.
Although they were eating regularly, their stomach did not grow back to it's normal size. ''Look at our waist. They are still so small!'' shouted the ants to one another. They looked very worried.
Raja Kerengga was calm. He said, ''Do not panic, my people. We have to accept this fate. Whats important is that we are still alive! After all, you look more attractive now. It will also enable you to move faster and do more work.''
When the ants heard this from their sultan, they took another good look at themselves and realized that they looked much better than before.
So they stopped worrying and went about their lives happily. From that time onwards, as you would have noticed, the waist of ants are extremely small. Perhaps that is why ants are such industrious creatures.
THE END..
Glossary
1- Overcome : to solve a problem you face
2- Harmony : peaceful condition
3- Panic : to be so frightened that you do not know what to do
4- Shelter : a place to feel safe in
5- Brilliant : very clever
6- Starvation : not having any food to eat for a long time
7- Approached : go towards someone or something
8-Subsiding : to get to a lower level
9- Attractive : very nice to look at
10- Enable : make someone able to do something
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