The floors of the passageways were decked with poppy-petals, so that the queen’s feet would tread on purple only.
— Furnica, or the Queen of the Ants, by Carmen Sylva (1843 – 1916), translated by Gio Carval
The Jules Verne story, Master Zacharius, was extremely silly.
The next story, by Louisa May Alcott, was something cute-sy about fairies and the Frost-King.
Self flew past Stories # 16, 17, 18, and 19.
She liked the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Will-o-the-Wisps Are in Town, but it did not slay.
She didn’t read the Lewis Carroll excerpt from Through the Looking Glass because she already knows that book intimately.
She was on the point of cherry-picking (instead of reaching each story in order) until she got to Furnica, or the Queen of the Ants. She hasn’t finished reading it yet, but it is soooo charming.
Furnica got to be Queen of the Ants because: 1) She is an orphan; 2) She is virtuous; and 3) She is extremely hardworking. The ants just love her. After becoming Queen of the Ants, she takes her job so seriously that she “visited the pupae every evening, to test the softness of their cots.” She is a just Queen, banishing recalcitrant ants and even condemning a few to death, though her heart bleeds as she watches “the merciless stabbings” carried out.
Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.
Kanlaon 