Dennis Ogu

The first time soldier ants visited hen, their mission was to ask her why she and her children had eaten the palm fruits they kept in the bush.

Hen and her children were just coming out from their hut that morning. When she saw them, she announced to her children that their god had brought them food to their doorstep; she didn’t even care to find out why they had come. She and her children gleefully pounced on them and began to enjoy their food.

After a few minutes of feasting, her children began scratching their bodies in pain and were speaking. Shortly after, she, too, felt the bites, and to the surprise and disappointment of her children, she ran away leaving them behind.

The next moment, she was found running from one corner to another scratching her body left and right, even pulling off some of her feathers in the process. That moment, she didn’t remember again that she had children.

When she was able to pull herself together, she gathered some courage and returned; she found the bones and feathers of some of her children who couldn’t run away with her as a few soldier ants were still feasting on them. Those that were able to run away survived the unrelenting bites but suffered bruises and pains for days.

Since then, the hen takes her time to examine whatever she sees as food, especially if it is a living thing, before she eats it.
And whenever and wherever she sights soldier ants, the first thing she does is to raise an alarm and take to her heels, to be followed by her children.