One day, three
little ants—Frank, Albert, and Tommy—set out to seek their fortune. They waved goodbye to their mother and set
off down the road with suitcases under their arms. Frank, the oldest, found a
nice place on a hillside to build his home.
He built his out of pieces of straw he found lying on the ground. His house went up quickly, in just one
day. Frank settled in and was happy. Albert
was the second oldest. He wanted to make
a house that was a little sturdier than his brother’s house. He gathered sticks, tied them all together
with strong ropes, and cut windows and doors.
He also made an oven out of mud, rocks, and dirt. It took him about three days to build his
house, and he was happy.
The youngest
brother was Tommy. Tommy was very wise
and careful. He collected strong pieces
of wood, cut each one carefully, and fitted the pieces together perfectly. He bought tiles for the roof and poured a
cement floor. His house was the talk of
the neighborhood, and he finished in two months.
One morning,
Billy, the anteater, was walking around the neighborhood. He noticed the three new houses. Billy smelled ants, so he stopped to see if
he could get a few to snack on. Frank’s
house was easy to push over; it was made of straw. Unfortunately for Billy, Frank ran out the
back door to Albert’s. Albert’s house
was a little tougher to knock over, but Billy succeeded. Albert and Frank escaped again, and Billy got
sticks in his nose.
Finally, he
came to the last house. He sucked as
hard as he could, but the three ants would not come out the front door. Instead, he got a nose full of hot
sauce! That Tommy! Billy’s nose was burning. He ran away and never bothered the brothers
again.