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By a neighbouring birch tree was a great ant-hill; the frugal

insects were wont to crawl around over the grass, mobile and

black. Whether from necessity or from pleasure one cannot tell,

they were especially fond of visiting the Temple of Meditation;

from the hillock, their capital, to the shores of the spring they

had trodden a path, by which they led their troops. Unfortunately

Telimena was sitting in the middle of the pathway; the ants,

allured by the sheen of the snow-white stocking, crawled up on

it, and in swarms began to tickle and bite. Telimena was forced

to run away and shake herself, finally to sit down on the grass

and catch the insects.