All these events took place during an established time of peace and the rule of law, imposed, on pain of death by hanging, by a lion named Noble, who held sway over the whole land. No other beast could resort to any kind of violence without being brought to trial before him. Everyone obeyed him, and he was their ruler under God. He was, however, forced to impose the rule of law, because he thought that he was with some certainty facing a grim death. I shall now tell you why.

Noble went to an anthill and told the ants to stand still, and then he informed them, to their surprise, that he was their overlord. They had no intention of becoming his subjects, and this made him very angry. In a rage he leaped onto their fortress and battled with the little animals, because he thought that was the thing to do. More than a thousand of them lay dead, and many more were seriously wounded, but a good number of them survived. Noble took out his fury on them and brought down their fortress to its foundations. He had done them an immeasurable amount of damage, and then he went on his way. The ants bewailed their situation and told of the great suffering inflicted on their people. Their happiness had been destroyed on this most sorrowful of days.

The ruler of that fortress, however, was a fierce and wild ant. When he returned from a trip into the forest he learned with horror of the great pains suffered by his people. “Who did this to you?” he asked. Those who had survived complained bitterly about their distress. “Our loyalty brought this upon us, Noble told us that we were to be subject to him, but we wanted no other ruler than you, and for that we had to suffer. He killed vast numbers of our people, and he destroyed this fortress. If this deed goes unavenged, then we shall be forever dishonored.”