Susan watched the ants marching into their anthill. She thought ants were cool, especially how they work together to do big jobs and carry heavy things.

Her brother Tim was dribbling a soccer ball. He kicked, but the ball missed the goal and headed right for the anthill. Just in time, Susan caught the ball. "Be careful!" she shouted. The ants worked hard to build their home.

"Sorry," said Tim. "Want to play?" "OK," said Susan, "but let's move away from the anthill."

They played for an hour. When they passed the anthill on their way indoors, Susan waved as usual and noticed that her ring was missing. "Oh no, my best ring fell off!" she said. She bought the real silver ring in Ireland with her own money.

Susan and Tim looked for a long time but could not find it. Susan was crying when they went inside.

Inside the anthill, a young worker ant named Peter said, "She saved us from that ball. We've got to find the ring for her."

He divided the ants into teams and told each group to search a different part of the yard. They worked all night. It was nearly morning when Peter's cousin Lucy squeaked "I found it!"

The ring was much bigger and heavier than Lucy, so eight strong ants carried it together back to the anthill. Peter felt very happy, but didn't know how they could give the ring to Susan.

Then he had an idea. The ants gathered lots of dandelions and made a bright yellow circle of flowers around the ring.

The next morning, Susan waved to the ants on her way to the bus stop. She noticed the yellow circle and bent down for a closer look. "It's my ring!" she cried. "The ants must have done this to thank me for saving their home."

She said "Thank you!" to the ants and set her piece of raisin toast down to the anthill as a treat for them. Then she put on the ring with a big smile and got on the bus.

The End.