The Caterpillar and the Scout Ant

Caterpillar crawled along the ground past dandelions and wildflowers looking for a good place to start making his cocoon. His brothers and sisters had told him trees were the best place for one. It was safer, high above most predators, like ants. But he wasn’t in the mood for climbing any tree.

He had tried climbing an oak tree, but he got tired of it after a few seconds. “This isn’t for me,” he said.

“You barely even tried!” his brother said, exasperated. He was a few inches up. “Come on! It’s safer up here.”

Caterpillar shook his head. “No thanks. I’ll find somewhere else to go.”

His brother groaned as Caterpillar crawled away. “Fine, but whatever place you choose, it has to be above ground. Say you’ll pick someplace high.”

“Alright, alright. I will.”

But he wasn’t quite sure he intended to do what they said. He didn’t feel like climbing up something high above ground. Climbing up something tall took effort and energy. Besides, if he were lower to the ground, he’d be closer to lunch.

He crawled up a blade of grass and nibbled on it. Below him, he saw a little ant crawling along the ground, looking for food no doubt. He chuckled. This was what her siblings were afraid of? The ant was so small. He, on the other hand, was pretty big for a caterpillar. His siblings had made ants sound so terrible and dangerous. Now that he saw it for himself, he wondered how ants got such a high reputation.

Seeming to not notice him, the ant eventually disappeared into the grassy forest. It was then and there that Caterpillar decided that there wouldn’t be any harm in making a cocoon closer to the ground.

Come to think of it, a nice long blade of grass would do the trick. He climbed down and searched until he found a nice tall blade of grass. He climbed up it and made his cocoon. He daydreamed about how beautiful of a butterfly he would be, with big yellow wings and long antennae before falling fast asleep.

 

Scout the ant dragged the little dead earwig back towards the ant mound. Another measly find. Other ants had found grasshoppers, fat beetles, even large earthworms for their meal. But nope. He could only find an earwig. A tiny one at that. There was barely any meat on it.

The Queen always said that even the smallest contribution could make the biggest difference, but that didn’t stop the other ants from teasing him about his not-so-successful scouting missions. There was no doubt about it. He was going to lose the bet to all his friends on the biggest catch today. The ant with the smallest catch or find would have to take over the other’s scouting shifts for a week. He’d have to cancel his little trip to the Abandoned Shoe in the forest. Again.

The earwig tasted bitter in his mouth the more he thought about it. He spat it out and glared at it. No. There was no way he could bring this thing back. It wasn’t sundown yet. He still had time. He needed to find something else fast.

He ran around anxiously, trying to find any other insect or bug. Anything big. He saw a cricket. No. It was too tiny. A baby. He kept going and saw a centipede. Still too small. A grasshopper. It jumped away.

As the sunset, the sky turned pink. Scout sighed. Maybe he’d have to go back for that stupid earwig after all.

He stopped short. There was a light green bundle on a blade of grass. A large one. He crawled over to it. His eyes widened. A cocoon! A caterpillar's cocoon. What was that thing doing here?! They were usually high up on trees.

Why that caterpillar made his cocoon there wasn’t his concern. His concern was to get the other scouts to help him take this fat caterpillar back to the mound for dinner. He hurried off to get his comrades.

Once he found other scouts, some of whom were his friends, he told them of his find. At first, they didn’t believe him. They thought he was playing some silly prank. He had to beg them to come follow him.

He led them to the cocoon. The scouts stared at it in wonder, excitement, and perplexity.

“Well, what do you know,” one of his friends said. “You really did find a catch today. An easy one at that. Bart over there only found a scrawny little earwig today, so I guess he lost.”

Bart scowled. “Dumb luck,” he muttered.

Scout swelled with pride. He had won the bet, and at least for now, he wasn’t a laughingstock. “Let’s get this big one back to the mound.”

Scout and the others clambered up the blade of grass and piled on top of the cocoon. They began to tear into the silky bundle so they could get to the big, juicy caterpillar within. The same big, juicy caterpillar who had been foolish enough to weave his cocoon where they could easily reach him as he slept, unaware of the doom at his doorstep.

Link to video of caterpillar here: https://youtu.be/09nfPXGh9X8