What is the moral of "The Ant and the Dove"?

One good turn deserves another — a kindness done is repaid, often by the one who seemed least able to repay it. The story pairs with "The Lion and the Mouse" in this respect, but the roles are reversed: here the small creature is helped first.

How is this different from the lion and the mouse?

In the lion story the powerful creature shows mercy and is later saved by the weak one. Here the gentle dove helps the ant first, and the ant repays her. Both teach that kindness returns, but the order of events and the characters are quite different.

Why does the ant bite the hunter rather than warn the dove?

Because there is no time, and because an ant cannot make itself heard by a bird in a tree. Choosing the action the character is actually capable of is what makes a completing story convincing, and it is worth a sentence explaining the choice.

English · Completing Story

The Ant and the Dove

Completing story: a dove saves a drowning ant and the ant repays her.

A dove drops a leaf to save a drowning ant, and the ant later saves the dove from a hunter.

The story begins: One hot day an ant went to a stream to drink. She slipped and fell into the water and was being carried away by the current.

The Story

On a hot summer day a thirsty ant came down to the bank of a stream to drink. She climbed on to a blade of grass that hung over the water, but the grass bent under her and she fell in.

The current was swift and the ant was carried away, struggling with all her small strength against the water. She could not swim, and she felt herself sinking.

A dove was sitting in a tree that overhung the stream and saw what had happened. Without waiting a moment she plucked a leaf from the branch and let it fall on to the water near the drowning ant.

The ant caught hold of the leaf and climbed on to it. The leaf floated slowly to the bank, and the ant crawled off it on to dry ground, safe and grateful. She looked up at the dove and thanked her with all her heart.

Some days later the ant was searching for food beneath the same tree when she saw a hunter creeping towards it. He carried a net, and he was looking up at the branches where the dove sat, unaware of any danger.

The ant saw that there was no time to warn the bird. Instead she ran forward and bit the hunter sharply on the foot.

The man cried out in pain and dropped his net. At the sound the dove looked down, saw the hunter, and flew away at once into the safety of the sky.

The hunter went home empty-handed, rubbing his foot and wondering what had bitten him. The dove had been saved by the very creature she had once saved herself.

So the little ant repaid her debt, and the two remained friends; for a good deed, however small, is never lost.

Moral: One good turn deserves another.