Page 28 - Fables volume 2

pondered these problems at length without arriving at any
satisfactory conclusions.”
“Well, Shaggy, I’m not going to last but another month or two,”
said the ant. “So I really must be getting back on track. Got to pull
my weight and a lot more.”
“Yes, yes, I understand. It means you are much closer to the end,
to dying. It occurred to me that perhaps we do not get that ultimate
certainty until we face imminent extinction. Maybe prior to that
intense focusing our minds are not able to apprehend the truth. You,
despite your restricted experience and shallowness of thought, are
almost to that point. Please: what do you think about the meaning of
life—yours, and by extension, anyone’s?”
“Me? I just know I’ve got to keep my proboscis clean and do my
duty. If I do that I don’t have to think about anything else. Does that
solve your puzzlement? If not, have you considered the possibility
that you are asking the wrong questions, or that they have no
answers? Enough! Let me get on with it: I’ve nothing to add. You’re
going to mess up our schedule blocking the trail for this long. My
whole day has been ruined.”
The sloth sighed.
“All right. You can go.” He lifted his paw, granting the ant egress
to its original line of travel. “But I will have to carry on my quest. It is
evident why I have failed, yet again: it has been my luck not to find
an old enough ant.”

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