Бесплатный фрагмент - Three pearls out of thousands

The Dragonfly and the Ant

One hot summer day, when most of the flowers in the mountains had already faded from the bright sun, an ant spotted a beautiful edelweiss, still fragrant and fresh. The persistent ant spent the entire day trying to navigate the shaggy, narrow leaves from below and reach the heart of the edelweiss—an inflorescence of white, spicy-scented flowers. Dreaming of finally tasting the nectar of this wonderful flower, the ant was stunned by the sight of a brilliant, soft-blue dragonfly, which effortlessly flew up to the flower, drank a drop of nectar, and settled on a petal to savor the aftertaste.

"How easily you can allow yourself to touch this flower!" the ant said enviously to the dragonfly. "You could collect so much nectar that you could feed an entire anthill!"

"I wasn't created to feed anyone; my life is my pleasure!" "The dragonfly replied coquettishly and gracefully fluttered off to a nearby flower.

"And how do you plan your day?" the ant called after her.

"I'm just enjoying life, that's my plan," the beautiful dragonfly said casually.

The ant had no choice but to descend from the flower to the ground without tasting it. He tried to forget this unfortunate incident and wandered off to find food elsewhere; he needed to return to the anthill with his catch before sunset.