On a warm afternoon, a little Ant went down to a bubbling stream for a drink of water. She leaned too far over the edge — and splash! — the current swept her off her feet.
"Help! Help!" she cried, paddling with all six tiny legs, but the water only carried her further from the bank.
High in a tree above, a Dove was resting on a branch. She heard the Ant's tiny cries and looked down just in time to see her struggling in the water. Without a moment's pause, the Dove plucked a leaf from her branch and let it fall — plip — right beside the Ant.
The Ant scrambled onto the leaf, and it carried her gently to the shore, safe and dry at last.
"Thank you, kind Dove!" the Ant called up, catching her breath. "You saved my life. I won't forget it."
The Dove dipped her head and flew off, thinking nothing more of it — after all, it had only cost her one small leaf.
Some time later, that same Dove was resting in the grass near the stream when a hunter crept up quietly behind her, a net raised and ready in his hands. The Dove, busy pecking at seeds, never saw him coming.
But the little Ant did.
She was resting nearby on a blade of grass, and the moment she spotted the hunter's shadow creeping closer, she knew exactly what she had to do. She dashed across the grass as fast as her legs could carry her and gave the hunter's bare heel one sharp little pinch.
"Ouch!" the hunter yelped, dropping his net and hopping about in surprise.
The sudden noise startled the Dove, and she took off at once, flapping safely away into the sky.
From her blade of grass, the little Ant watched the Dove fly to safety and smiled to herself. The kindness of one leaf had been repaid by one small pinch — and between the two of them, that made everything even.
The End.