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Matteo Terzaghi – Marco Zürcher
Ina. The alphabet ant
Illustrations by Marco Zürcher
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2001
40 pages - 17 full colour illustrations
hardcover - 21,5 x 26 cm
ISBN 9788886557993
Rights: World
For the illustrations of «Ina. La formica dell’alfabeto» Marco Zürcher received The 42nd International Golden Pen of Belgrade 2003
Age: 4 and up
Italian title: «Ina. La formica dell’alfabeto»
Italian selling price: Euro 12,92 |
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Matteo Terzaghi |
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Marco Zürcher |
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What can an ant do when faced with an advancing army of soldiers thumping their boots into the ground to a march-like rhythm? Nothing, unless it knows how to use the letters of the alphabet...
Once upon a time there was an ant who carried letters of the alphabet into the anthill. Her name was Ina. Her fellow workers, who brought in crumbs of bread, considered her crazy and treated her badly.
One day the walls of the anthill began to tremble. A black cloud of dust arose in the distance and, from the top of their anthill, the ants saw a column of soldiers advancing towards them. At the head of the column marched the general and behind him came the commanders, the soldiers, the cannons, the tanks, the ambulances and the coffins. One thing was certain: on their way by they would have destroyed the anthill.
The ants, in a panic, began to swarm here, there and everywhere, the only one to stay calm was Ina. She went down to take the easiest to see of the letters she had collected. She dragged them in front of the anthill and composed this question: WHY ARE YOU THUMPING YOUR BOOTS ON THE GROUND? WHY ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ALL AROUND? |
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When the general found the question written in block capitals before his feet, he immediately stopped and in that very same moment he realised that he did not know how to answer the questions that the tiny creature had asked him. “Dear friends, why are we going to make war? Do you know why?” and the soldiers an-swered: “But Sir, if you who are head of the army don’t know, how can we possi-bly know?” “Well,” said the general, “in that case, it’s better to go back and leave our friends the ants in peace!” and, so saying, he ripped off his uniform and ran away naked through the meadows. Then the soldiers and the com-manders pulled off their boots, threw them in the air and ran right away leaving behind them the cannons, the tanks, the ambulances and the coffins.
Ina was surrounded by her friends, they asked her forgiveness for having treated her unjustly, they touched her affectionately with their feelers saying: “Come on, let’s celebrate the peace! With crumbs and buns we’ll have a feast!”
And that was how the ants learned to appreciate the letters of the alphabet. |
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