A Bug’s Life
This is the short story of A Bug’s Life. In the tiny world of ants amongst the grass, the clover and dandelions, Princess Atta was feeling very happy. This season she was in charge of the annual harvest for her kingdom. Everything was going very smoothly. Every year, the ants had to gather food for the grasshopper gang. The gang was very mean; they hardly ever left any food for the poor ants.
All of a sudden, the alarm started ringing. It could have meant only one thing. The grasshopper gang had arrived. They had come early this time. The ants were very scared and they scattered hurriedly. Their queen helped them hide in the ant hill.
Filk, their community’s crazy inventor was the last one to enter the hill. He was as clumsy as he was creative. As Filk struggled out of his grain-picking machine, he knocked over the offering stone. The offering stone had all the grains that were to be given to the grasshoppers. All the hard work of the ants slipped down a cliff and into the river.
The ants were very angry with Filk, as he had destroyed all their hard work. The scared and angry ants were standing together in a group. They heard a buzzing sound. The earth began to shake and the angry gang of grasshoppers burst into the ant’s hill!
“Where is our food?” they asked angrily. Princess Atta trembled with fear. She was not prepared to deal with this problem. Filk, slowly went up to the Princess and told her in a quiet whisper that he had not intended for the grains to fall down into the river.
Princess Atta trembled with fear. She was not prepared to deal with this problem. Filk, slowly went up to the Princess and told her in a quiet wishper that he had not intended for the grains to fall down into the river. “It was an accident!” he tried to make sense to the Princess.
The angry grasshoppers gave the ants one more chance to gather food for them and stormed out. They told the ants they’d be back soon.
Princess Atta and her mother; the Queen, were very unhappy with Flik. This meant that the ants would have to start collecting grain again. But Flik had an idea. He announced that he would look for some bugs. The bugs would help the ants to fight the evil grasshoppers.
While the rest of the ants collected grain, Flik set out. He made a journey to the city. There he would look for warrior bugs. When Flik arrived at his destination, he saw some bugs were very annoyed with some horseflies. And very soon the bugs and the horseflies started fighting.
The fight was over as quickly as it began. Bugs defeated the horseflies. Flik, who had been watching the fight, was very impressed. He asked the bugs to come fight for the ants. “Come to Ant Island, and help us,” he told the bugs.
Upon thinking about the ant’s invitation, the bugs agreed and went back to the ant hill with Flik. At that time Flik did not know that the bugs were really circus bugs and not warrior bugs!
When Flik and his companions reached Ant Island, the ants came to greet them.
“Three cheers for Flik and the warrior bugs!” they cheered.
On hearing this, the circus bugs got offended and said they were leaving. They told the ants that they were circus bugs and not warrior bugs. The Queen and Princess Atta looked very unhappy. Flik was very confused. Then Flik somehow thought of a new plan and asked the bugs to stay.
Soon the ants became busy building Flik’s newest invention- a bird. Flik was making a fake bird out of dried leaves, twigs, and some grains. This bird would be used to scare the grasshopper gang away, so they would never return.
The circus bugs were helping too. They were making a special machine that would launch the bird into the air. Soon, the grasshoppers returned. They were furious when they saw no food was at the offering stone. Hopper, the leader of the grasshopper gang was very mad.
To take revenge, Hopper, and his gang broke into the ant’s storeroom. Once inside, they started eating the ant’s food stored for the coming winters. When the ant Queen saw this, she was very scared. She told the ants that if the grasshoppers ate all of their food, the ants would starve in the winters.
Flik had already known that the grasshoppers would do something like this. He already had a plan. While the grasshoppers ate the ant’s supplies, they heard a drumroll.
“Roll up! Roll up, everyone!” shouted the circus bugs. “Rub your legs for the greatest circus show!” they shouted at the top of their voices.
One by one, the circus bugs began to perform. They performed their best tricks before the grasshoppers. Meanwhile, Filk gathered up some ants and climbed into the fake bird. Just as the circus bugs were finishing up with their circus, Flik launched the bird. Off they flew into the air, gliding swiftly down towards the grasshoppers.
All the grasshoppers ran away, terrified. Only Hopper stayed back. Hopper had realized that the bird flying towards them was a fake one. Soon the bird crashed and the ants came out of the bird. Hopper had been waiting for them and he was furious!
He then chased the Princess and Flik. But the ants were clever and they ran to the other side of the river. A hungry sparrow lived there. They took Hopper straight towards the sparrow’s nest!
When the sparrow saw Hopper, it came down. It waited for her chance to catch hopper. The ants had carefully chosen a spot, where the bird could not see them.
“Is this another one of your tricks?” laughed hopper. Before the grasshopper could even realize what happened, the sparrow ate it up. And that was the end of evil Hopper. The ants lived peacefully after that. Flik was thanked by all his companions. The evil grasshopper gang never bothered the ants again.
Here is a visual depiction of, “A Bug’s Life Story”. See the video story below,
A Bug’s Life Story Video