The Prisoners Of The Pitcher Plant

A small black ant was exploring the wilderness, and was hanging on the leaf of a huckleberry bush. This leaf was overhanging a patch of pitcher plants, plants in which bugs would crawl down, but would never come up. As the ant was crawling over the leaf, a large butterfly happened to come by and graze the leaf, knocking the poor ant into the opening on the pitcher plant. She gathered her senses and was curious of what could be lurking below and ventured forth. The ground grew stickier the further she went, so the ant decided to turn back, but was unable to do so. Little hairs from the plant blocked her from coming back up, no matter how hard she pushed. She kept getting shoved further and further down by her efforts until she fell down into a cold pool of water. She was very tires and could barely keep afloat, but luckily a moth's body was floating there and she climbed on to use it as a raft. She regained her strength, and heard a buzzing sound. The plant shook a little as its next victim fell down. A bee plunged into the water and began thrashing around. It too tried to cling to the moth, but was far to heavy. The black ant quickly jumped to the wall of the plant, and watched as the bee succumbed to its fate when it became tired and drowned. The ant felt that there was no means of escape, and her luck ran even worse when a large spider drooped down below, using its web to keep it safe. She tried to hide from the spider, but was spotted right away, and it looked like the end was near, when suddenly the plant was tossed aside as a rodent ran by. It caused everything inside to fly out, releasing the ant from her trap. The spider was not so lucky though. As he hung from his web, about to pounce on the ant, a large black and yellow object fell upon the spider. A great wasp grasped the spider and jabbed it several times with its stinger before buzzing away with the helpless spider.

The Young Ravens That Call Upon Him

It was just before dawn, and a grayness was beginning to trouble the dark about the top of the mountain. As the light began to pierce the side of the mountain, a family of eagles was revealed. The mother of the two chicks spread her huge wings out to cover her young, as to protect them from the cold. The family was starving because all of their prey had dissapeared this spring, the was barely any food to be found. The male sat calmly on a rock, gazing over the horizon. The eagles were growing restless so the female decided to attempt to find food. The male watched over the young as the female took flight and peered below. She flew for a long while then spotted a large trout in the lake below. She sped downwards towards it and struck it with her mighty talons and beated her wings to take off. However, the trout was far to powerful and dragged her beneath the surface several times, nearly drowining her before she could free her talons from the death grip. The tired mother made her way slowly back and landed at her nest without food. The family was near starvation, and the male knew he had to find food quickly or they would not survive. He peered down and scanned the hills. He had a huge break as he spotted and ewe with her young lamb out in the open, and he bolted quickly knowing this was his chance of survival. The ewe and lamb were grazing along a wide, green field, when suddenly a fast whizzing noise was heard. Before the ewe could protect the lamb, it was to late. The eagle's talons were already upon the lamb, and carried it helplessely away to the nest. The male flew back to the nest triumphant, and the ealges had a feast; their hunger was satisfied, and survival guaranteed.

The Heron In The Reeds

The day was bright and vibrant, and the suns beams glinted the surface of the small pond. The marshy area around the pound was teeming with life, and in the middle of the pond stood a great bird. It was motionless, the Great Blue Heron's beak pointed, ready to dart in any direction in a second, watching the still water patiently. After a few minutes of waiting, his patience paid off as he caught glimpse of a fish and quickly caught it and ate it. He caught several other fish then his luck ran out and nothing else showed up. Frustrated, the heron walked around the pond vigorously searching when he heard a 'snap' and squawked loudly as something grabbed his foot from below. A muskrat trap had clenched his foot, and he dragged it onto land as far as the chain would allow, and flailed with all his might, but the iron grip was much to strong for the heron and was unable to release the trap. Nearby, two boys paddled their canoe up a river and heard the ruckus of the heron. The two went to check and see what the comotion was, and saw the heron and his unfortunate scenario. The two threw a bag over his head to restrain him and remomved the trap. Afterwards, they tended to his wounds, and went to release the heron. He thanked them by pecking at them furiously before taking off indignantly; While they stared at him wistfully, half regretting their generosity.

Do Seek Their Meat From God

It was a dark and peaceful night. Over the great pines of an ancient forest revealed the orange disk of a full moon rising. The rays of light from the moon gently lit up the forest, revealing a great panther softly trotting along. In the light the panther seemed almost invisible, a spectral grey color, and he stopped trotting and let out a great roar. The call was to his mate to warn her that the hour had come for hunting their prey. He waited by their den, and another great panther revealed itself, after tending to her young inside of their lair. The two panthers were savage with hunger because of feeding their young, they had not eaten in two days. The pair set off quickly, yet silently, looking for any sign of a meal. After a few minutes of travelling, the panthers heard a faint cry off in the distance, a cry of a young child. The two beasts turned their course to pursue the cries to come upon an easy meal. The cries came from the cabin of a troublesome man. He was rowdy, and always seen at the local tavern getting wasted away, leaving his 7 year old for days at a time alone out in that cabin. The little boys only companion was his neighbour, a small 5 year old boy, who lived in a cabin far away from his. The two would always play together, enjoying many adventures, but tonight while the two were playing, one was unaware of the others departure and went looking for him. His search was unsuccessful as he came upon his cabin and found it empty, when he turned around he noticed darkness had fallen upon him, and he grew lonely and afriad. He crouched in the innermost corner of the cabin, and feeling desparate, called out in hopes of rescue followed by sobbing, which in turn showed no aid. At this time, the father of the 5 year old, a great strong and well respected logger, passed by and heard the calls of his sons playmate. He felt sorry for the boy and suspected his father had yet again left him to get drunk. The logger however disregarded the calls and kept on strolling. After a while, he still heard the calls and could not go further, he felt he must helpm the boy because he sounded scared. Now the panthers were almost upon the cabin, drawing nearer and nearer, they would go throught the broken door and receive their prize. As soon as the panthers were on the doorstep, the logger thanked the heavens he came, and drew his rifle and fired. The bullet hit its mark, downing and killing the female, and the male filled with rage sprinted to the logger. The man got only one shot in before the panther pounced, and it hit it right in the chest. The panther sank its teeth straight into the loggers shoulders, but the strong man drove his fingers deep into its neck, and soon the beast went limp; the bullet had worked in time. The logger quickly ran into to check on the little boy and told him he could live with him if his parents did not want him. As soon as the boy saw him, he ran right up to him and shouted "Daddy! Daddy! I knew you would come!" The logger held the trembling boy and remembered how he almost disregarded his cries for help, and great beads of sweat broke out upon his forehead.

A Handful of Dates

Many years ago, there was a young boy who greatly respected and looked up to his grandfather. The boy would spend more time with him than his actual father, and would go everywhere with him, except the mornings when he would venture to the mosque to study the Koran. The boy loved studying the Koran because it pleased his grandfather very much, and he hoped to grow up one day and be just like his grandfather, a tall, pure man, who walked with great strides. One day the boy questioned his grandfather about their neighbour Masood, and why he did not like him very much. His grandfather told him that Masood is an indolent man, and that of all the land he inherited from his father, two thirds of it now belonged to him. He said that he wasted his money on marrying women, and would sell off his land to pay for them. Later on, Masood comes by to invite the two to join in on the date harvesting. Many people had gathered at the harvest, and as a boy hacked away at a date palm, Masood warned him not to cut the heart of the palm. After the date harvesting ended, the boy's grandfather, a merchant, and the owned of the field next to Masood gathered around the sacks of harvested dates. They all ate a few, while Masood picked up a couple and had a quick smell before returning them to the sack. The young boy's grandfather handed him some dates, which he munched on and enjoyed. The boy watched as the men divided up the sacks and each took their share. When the bags were divided, Masood was left with none and the young boy was surprised. He looked at Masood and felt sorry for him, and felt himself drawing closer to Masood. Then the boy overheard his grandfather saying that Masood was still in debt with him. The young boy then realizes that his grandfather is not as pure and good as he once thought, and comes too see that he now hates him. The boy runs away from his grandfather, ignoring his cries to come back, and comes up to a river and purposely throws up the dates given to him by his grandfather.

Harrison Bergeron

In the year 2081, Constitutional Amendments have been created to make everyone equal to one another. Handicap devices such as masks, weights, and ear-radios are given to individuals who are deemed "unequal" or "gifted" more so than other people. Hazel and George Bergeron, a married couple, are in their living room watching a television program featuring dancing ballerinas. George has many handicaps because he is seen as gifted, so he must wear a thought disrupting ear radio and carry heavy lead balls attached to him by a handicap bag, while Hazel is much simpler than him, thus having no handicaps. The two have a conversation about how George has been feeling tired lately, and his wife Hazel suggests he take some lead balls out of his handicap bag to lessen his load. George tells his wife that he can not make himself unequal because he can not cheat the law for the sake of society. After their conversation, the television program the two were viewing was interupted to state that Harrison Bergeron, George and Hazel's son, who was taken away by the handicappers for being extremely talented, has escaped from prison and is plotting to overthrow the government. Suddenly, Harrison bursts into the broadcasting studio, and claims himself to be the "emperor" and tears off his many complex handicaps with ease. Harrison then announces he will select his empress, and a ballerina stands up and takes off her mask, revealing her blindingly beutiful face. Both of them dance around the studio, and jump high enough to reach the ceiling of the building. As the two kiss in mid-air, the Handicapper General walks in the room and fires two shots from a shotgun, killing both Harrison and the ballerina. The Handicapper General then tells everyone in the studio who took off their handicaps with Harrison to put them back on, or she will kill them too. Soon after the event, the Bergeron's television set burns out, and George returns from the kitchen with a beer to find Hazel in tears. George asks Hazel why she was crying, and she states that something really sad happened on the television, but she can not remember due to her lack of intelligence, and she forgets witnessing her own sons death.