When Tiny awoke from his slumbers in the hazel brush, he scampered down to the edge of the brook, washed his face, and combed out his long, bushy tail. Then he began to call for Chatty, but no answer came. He finally decided to start alone. He remembered to take the path leading to the right as the owl had directed him. For a long time he sauntered along, admiring the elder, oak, and buckeye trees, and occasionally he darted his piercing gaze at some low-hanging black haw or pawpaw bush, fearing some animal might attack him.
At last he came to a sandy plain, where he sat down to rest in the sunshine. Not far away he saw a city. Its streets were filled with busy inhabitants. Hundreds of them were hurrying to and fro, working with all their energy. Many little workers were erecting buildings. To lift a single grain of sand each was toiling with all his might. They did not stop to rest or to visit, but kept working, working, working. Tiny thought it would take them a long time to build houses from grains of sand.
THEY DID NOT STOP TO REST OR VISIT, BUT KEPT WORKING, WORKING, WORKING.
While the architects were busy building new homes, some soldiers in shiny, red clothes moved about as if they were giving orders to the workers. A crowd of watchmen stood at the gates of the city, ready to give warning at the approach of an enemy.
Not one of the little creatures was alarmed by the squirrel. They heeded him no more than Tiny did the tree beneath which he was crouching. He drew nearer and saw that there were many little rooms near the surface of the city and that below them was a great public dining-room and storeroom. Evidently they all ate their meals together. These rooms were kept in order by a host of servants, who were very busy all the time carrying out shells, seeds, and the remains of insects. Others collected all the rubbish and carried it out into a heap outside the city limits. Scores of nurses were looking after the babies, and teaching them that the time would soon come when they must labor like their elders.
Suddenly there was a great commotion in the street. Some food providers were struggling along with a fly they had found. They were taking it to the storeroom. The load was so heavy that several household workers rushed out to lend their help. They toiled along together, slowly, with one united effort, and with great difficulty; but, finally, they stowed the fly headlong into the public storeroom. Tiny breathed a sigh of relief when their hard task was done.
But they did not stop to rest. They turned out to help others bring in a locust. The workers in the storeroom cleared a place for other provisions; the watchmen guarded the gates, without taking their eyes from their work; the architects, steadily and patiently, carried grain after grain of sand to the tops of their buildings.