As far as ants go, Morry wasn't very strong. He rarely brought anything of value back to his colony, and so earning respect was very difficult for him. But all of that changed one sunny morning when he and his friend, Denny, were foraging in a local park.

"Look!" Denny shouted out. "A whole jar of cookies!"

Both ants scurried over and looked upon the jar in great wonder. There were enough cookies inside to keep their colony fed for weeks!

"But how are we going to get it open?" Morry asked.

"Easy," Denny replied with confidence. "We'll just tip it on its side and twist the lid."

With the two ants working together, the jar fell over quite easily. But even with their combined strength, they just could not get the lid to budge.

"Maybe we should hit it with something," Denny suggested. He fetched a stick and struck the lid as hard as he could. Sadly, the twig shattered on impact.

"What more can we do?" Morry admitted, dejected. He then walked over and leaned against the glass jar. Just as his weight pressed against the side, the entire jar began to roll away.

"Morry, be careful!" Denny yelled.

But it was too late. The jar had already begun to pick up speed down a steep hill. Denny glared at his clumsy friend.

Luck was in their favor on this day, though. At the bottom of the hill sat a huge rock right in the path of the tumbling jar. And in spectacular fashion, the glass jar hit the rock and burst into dozens of tiny pieces, freeing the cookies.

Morry gazed back at his friend, who stood looking down at the broken jar with an enormous smile across his face.

"Well done, Morry," Denny boasted. "Well done."

Lexile: 600-700
Words: 300
Genre: Fairy Tale
Read time: 2:30
Printable version
Story questions
Vocabulary
Written by: Brian King
Read by: Christopher Hernandez
Illustrated by: Micaela Stefano