The seed that left his pumpkin by Alessandro Caselli

Author:Alessandro Caselli
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
Published: 2020-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Every now and then Worker had to stop and rest a little, and in the meantime he explained to Nut how the ants’ nest was organised, what winter was and how scary it was for his sisters.

“But thanks to our continued efforts, we are able to make it through the long winters – often we even have leftovers,” the ant said proudly. “Of course we have to throw out the surplus, but that doesn’t matter.”

“But that means you’re working more than necessary. Why do you do it?” asked Nut.

“To be sure that everything goes well during the winter. We prefer to not waste time looking around us, singing – like some other insects do – or playing. That’s child’s play. Our society is very well organised: everyone has their own role and tasks to do. If everybody respects that rule, the whole society survives. Whoever doesn’t respect that, gets sent away: it’s better to get rid of a few rotten apples instead of letting them spoil the entire harvest... But in our ants’ nest everybody respects the rules and everyone works just enough, and not more than what is necessary.”

Nut didn’t seem very convinced by the ant’s logic: “I don’t want to live a life like yours – in my pumpkin everyone lived the same life and nobody tried to do anything different. I don’t think I’ll come with you to the ant’s nest.”

“Don’t worry, we’re nearly there. Once you’re in the ant’s nest you won’t have to work, you’ll just have to relax.”

The ant had already started to think about what kind of taste the pumpkin seed might have, when they heard shouts from the explorers up-front:

“ANTEATERS AHEAD!!! LEAVE THE PROVISIONS AND SAVE YOURSELVES!!!”

The ant dropped the seed and left him without even saying goodbye, fleeing as fast as he could and hiding himself away inside the ants’ nest. But when the anteater arrived, he stuck in his very long tongue and captured lots of ants – Worker among them – and he wandered away, very satisfied and with a very full stomach. Nut stayed where he was and found himself reflecting on how much he had learnt from the insect and observing this immense world that he now lived in. From there, he could no longer see his pumpkin and, even if he’d wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to go back.

The next day, Nut was woken up by a sweet melody that someone was singing just for him. It spoke of how far away home was – not the home that he had left behind, but rather the home that he still needed to find. When the seed turned to see who was singing the beautiful song, the cicada stopped and introduced himself.

“Good morning, I’m Singer. Who are you?”

“Hello. My name is Nut and I am a pumpkin seed,” replied Nut.

“Oh, I already knew that,” lied the cicada. “I’ve already met thousands like you...”

“Really? And I thought that I was the first to-“

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, I’m sure that you were the first to leave your pumpkin.

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