A family of ants lived in a tunnel high up in a mountain.

Ant-One and Ant-Two were brother and sister. As far as Ant-One and Ant-Two knew, no ant had ever traveled to the other end of their tunnel.

Nobody knew if there was an opening at the other end of the mountain of their tunnel. The tunnel might just go deeper into the mountain and end there deep inside.

Stories were told of how the tunnel was endless; that it twisted about deep into the mountain; that it came out at the other end in a bad place.

Ant-One was eleven years old. He was suspicious of all the information he heard about the other end of the tunnel. He wanted to find out for himself.

One night when everybody was asleep he crept deeper into the tunnel. He was going to find the other end of the tunnel; find out the truth for himself.

The tunnel was darker than he had imagined during all the stories about it he had heard. So dark that he could not see his hand when he touched his nose. He did not expect this. He walked and walked and walked. He came to no end.

He stopped and slept awhile. He got up and walked and walked and walked. Now he was getting a little frightened.

Perhaps this is not such a good idea, he thought. I didn't think of bringing along water and something to eat because I did not think I would be searching this long for the end of this tunnel.

He walked and walked and walked. Okay, he told himself. That's it. Better go back. There is no end to this tunnel. I'll have a second nap. When I awake, I'll head back home.

He had a nap. He got up and headed back home. It was so dark he wasn't sure which way was home.

"Now what?" he asked himself, aloud. He spoke aloud because being alone was beginning to unsettle him. He continued, more loudly. "How am I to know which is the right way to home?"

A voice said quietly to him "This way."

Ant-One jumped back in fright. He banged up against a wall. He let out a yelp. He was trembling in fear. He stammered to himself, hoarsely, barely audible, “Just my echo. Just my echo!”

“No, Ant-One,” said the voice, softly and sweetly, “I am not just your echo. I am me.”

Ant-One’s terrified voice let him down twice when he tried to speak. The third time, through stinging tears of fright he made a mighty effort through his hoarseness, and stammered, barely audible, "Who--who are you? What are you--you doing here?"

His knees were letting him down, too. He clutched blindly and frantically at a wall as he slowly crumpled down to the ground, against the wall.

"Are you scared, Ant-One?" asked the voice, teasingly, mercilessly. "Uh, yes. A little. Who are you?" He pleaded. He knew he would start crying aloud any second.

The voice said "Can't you tell? Would you like three guesses, Ant-One?”

He replied quickly and fearfully softly, “No, no, no, please, I’m begging you. No guesses, please. Just tell me. Please! I beg you!”

“Oh, all right. I'm your baby sister. Ant-Two."

Ant-One was so shocked, he couldn't speak. Ant-Two continued speaking, happily, tauntingly, mercilessly.

"I've been following you. I want to see the other end of the tunnel, too, Ant-One."

"How did you know I would try to find it?" "It was easy" said Ant-Two. "You spoke so often about wanting to find out for yourself. I kept a close eye on you. Here we are."

Ant-One was a bit angry when he said, "Well, you know then there is no end to this tunnel and we have no food and no water. We have to go back."

"I brought a back-pack. I have food for the both of us. And water," replied Ant-Two. "Let's sit and eat. I'm starving and thirsty. I was tempted to eat when you napped the first time but I felt it would be dishonest to eat by myself. Come on. You sit there so we will know the way to go on is at your end."

They sat and ate and drank, and made plans. It wasn't easy to eat in total darkness without spilling things.

After that, they walked and walked and walked, and talked all the way. They did not know for how long they walked.

One thing they worked out was that the tunnel must be really high and wide because of the way their voices echoed all the time. A few times they stomped along in fun with loud steps in order to make loud echoing sounds.

Ant-One told Ant-Two he was glad she had come along because now it was fun walking and talking and playing games with her in the dark tunnel.

They saw a dim light ahead of them. The end of the tunnel? They walked faster. They came out at the other end! It was night. The light they saw was from a full moon. They decided to wait for day time before they went any farther. They lay down and napped inside the tunnel.

They didn't know how long or short their nap was. They were awakened by a loud noise. It was a strong wind. Had they the presence of mind to lay flat on the ground as they were when they were napping, nothing bad would have happened to them.

However, when they jumped up at hearing the noise, the wind swept them out of the tunnel and down the mountain.

They held on tightly to each other as the wind blew them farther and farther along for the rest of the night.

First, the wind died down. Then it stopped altogether. They drifted gently to the ground.

They found themselves in an unpleasant place early in the morning.

There were no trees. The grass was dry. There were no animals about. Not even birds. The air itself was dry. They heard voices arguing. They walked cautiously to where they heard the voices coming from behind a hill.

There they saw ten elephants. Grown-ups and a few children elephants. All appeared skinny and hungry. The elephants were all talking angrily at once to one another.

"We just have to keep on walking in one direction!" "We've been doing that for days and haven't found food or water, yet!"

"You're our leader. You should know what to do."

"I haven't eaten in two days. No trees. What little grass there is is dried up and tastes yucky."

"Okay" said the elephant who was the leader "let's all have a nap. When we get up we'll decide what to do."

All the elephants lay down to nap. A lot of them grumbled while they did so. Ant-Two smiled at Ant-One.

"What?" said Ant-One to her. "What's there to smile about? We are lost. Like those elephants. This place looks like a desert. We are in big trouble, Ant-Two, and you are smiling?" Ant-One was really worried about his sister.

They knew which way was back to the tunnel, but he knew ants would never get back there in this hot and dry weather. The food and water that was left in Ant-Two's back-pack would not be enough to keep them alive for long. And here was his baby sister smiling! Oh, yes, Ant-One was really, really worried.

"Not to worry," said the baby sister to her very worried older brother. "Here's the plan. We climb up the leader elephant and get into his ear and tell him how to get to the tunnel and to the valley." She looked at her brother.

He stared at her with his eyes so wide open she thought he was going to faint from shock. He hugged her and said it was a fantastic plan!

They climbed up the sleeping elephant leader and went about whispering in his ear.

When he awoke out of his nap he was so excited. The other elephants thought he was not well. He was suffering from starvation and thirst, like the rest of them.

He told them he had a dream. That he heard voices telling him how to get to a place with lots of food and water.

The other elephants looked at one another and mumbled it was time to choose another leader. This one was hearing voices in his sleep. He was losing his mind. Definitely time to get a new leader.

Who wanted to be the new leader? None of them. Not in these times when everything looked so hopeless.

The two ants stayed in the leader's ears and gave him directions. The elephant leader was so excited about getting such clear directions about when and where to go, he didn't want to sleep. He commanded all the elephants to not sleep.

He walked way in front and changed direction so confidently at times the other elephants soon became hopeful that their leader was leading them to a good place.

After about a week or so all the elephants and the two ants travelled through the tunnel and came out at the end of the valley with the lake and its rivers.

The elephants went down to the valley and lived there happily.

Ant-One and Ant-Two never told anyone about their adventure. Also, they never missed an opportunity to tell others not to try to find that other end of the tunnel.