Leiningen Versus the Ants
Encyclopedia
"Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson
is a classic short story
published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire
.
The story centers on a scrappy, no-nonsense plantation
owner called Leiningen (his first name is never mentioned in the story), and his stubborn refusal to abandon his plantation in the face of a seemingly unstoppable mass of army ant
s, described as "an elemental—an act of God
!"
in six minutes.
The action is set "in the Brazil
ian rainforest
", where Leiningen (who is referred to ambiguously as one of several "settlers" in the area) owns a large plantation. It is never specified what crops the plantation grows, but Leiningen employs more than four hundred laborers and has brought the plantation to high success through his planning, intelligence, knowledge, and reasoned approach to problem solving. The story, as well as the character of Leiningen, stress on several occasions the crucial role that human
intelligence and ingenuity play in problem solving.
Unlike his fellow settlers, Leiningen is not about to give up years of hard work and planning to "an act of God." He assembles his workers, who are all or mostly indigenous peoples
, and informs them of the inbound horror. Though the natives are a naturally superstitious and frightened lot, their respect for and trust in Leiningen enables them to remain calm and determined: "The ants were indeed mighty, but not so mighty as the boss." Later in the story, despite suffering setbacks and being given an offer of dismissal with full pay, most of the laborers choose to stay with Leiningen.
Much of the rest of the story is taken up with the days-long struggle in which Leiningen attempts to hold off the huge swath of ants. He uses an ingenious system of levee
s, moat
s and "decoy" fields to keep the ants at bay. For example, he draws off some of the ants to a valueless fallow field, while keeping a large portion of the others off of the central compound with a system of defensive canal
s. The ants are initially unable to cross over, but soon manage to build bridge
s on the bodies of ants who mindlessly sacrifice themselves to the waters.
As the bridges of ant corpses begin to reach the near side of the canals, Leiningen opens a series of sluice gates, greatly increasing the flow of water, and washing away the prior ant bridges. He also employs gasoline
and other petroleum
flammables to great effect: the chemicals not only burn the ants when ignited, but also interfere with their chemically-based tracking and sensory organs.
After days of hard fighting, the ants force Leiningen and his remaining workers back to the last line of defense, the plantation house on top of a hill. Leiningen has managed to make a rather large dent in the ant population, but there are still more than enough ants to annihilate Leiningen and what is left of his plantation. Finally, the ants manage to breach Leiningen's last defenses, and all seems lost. However, Leiningen realizes that his original principle of canals and damming could be put to use on a large scale to finally repel the remaining ants: if he dammed the main river itself (a possibility due to large constructs that had already been put in place at the story's outset), the whole plantation would flood, drowning all the ants. He and his men could take refuge in the heights of the manor house, which was on a hill. However, this plan would require reaching the dam itself, which had long been overrun by the ants.
Resolving that he would not go down without knowing that he did all he possibly could, Leiningen puts on a makeshift protective suit, douses himself with gasoline, picks up two spray cans of the same, and makes a run for the dam — through the ants. The climax of the story occurs when he is knocked down by the ants and almost eaten. Thinking about the white bones of a stag and resolving that he cannot die that way, he forces himself to get up and continue running. Despite suffering horrible injuries, including ant bites to the inside of his nose
and directly below his eye
s, Leiningen reaches the dam controls and floods the plantation. This meant the death of his entire year's crop, but it also saved the lives of his men, preserved the contents of his great granaries, and destroyed the menace of the ants for everyone else. Luckily, Leiningen survives. At the story's end, Leiningen awakes after recovering from his injuries, his first words: "I told you I would come back, even if I am a bit streamlined."
series, Escape
. William Conrad
provided the voice of Leiningen for the January 14th debut broadcast. It was further adapted in 1954 by Ranald MacDougall
and Ben Maddow
into the film The Naked Jungle
, starring Charlton Heston
as Leiningen and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner. In 1959, the story was again adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS Radio series, Suspense
. Luis Van Rooten
provided the voice of Leiningen for the November 29th episode.
The story also inspired "Trumbuo's World", the sixth episode of the television series MacGyver
. Stock footage from The Naked Jungle was used in the episode.
h
It was also parodied on the cartoon series Camp Candy
. In "Candy and the Ants", ohn Candy]l] is faced with a swarm olf voracious "navy ants", which he finally repels by importing anteanters. ("What kind of barbarians are we dealing with?" screams the ant admiral.)
The humor magazine National Lampoon also parodied the story in a short story called "Leiningen and the Snails", in which the title character faces a swarm of "army snails", and has "merely three weeks" to think of a way to defend plantation. He eventually brings in by air enough garlic and butter to cook all the snails into escargo.
Carl Stephenson (author)
Carl Stephenson was a German author best known for his short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants". It was first published in 1938 and has appeared in numerous collections of short stories...
is a classic short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
.
The story centers on a scrappy, no-nonsense plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
owner called Leiningen (his first name is never mentioned in the story), and his stubborn refusal to abandon his plantation in the face of a seemingly unstoppable mass of army ant
Army ant
The name army ant is applied to over 200 ant species, in different lineages, due to their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", in which huge numbers of ants forage simultaneously over a certain area, attacking prey en masse.Another shared feature is that, unlike most ant...
s, described as "an elemental—an act of God
Act of God
Act of God is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible.- Contract law :...
!"
Plot summary
The district commissioner (who narrates the radio adaptation in the first person) describes the threat Leiningen faces: "Ten miles long, two miles wide—ants, nothing but ants!” Additionally, each ant is approximately the size of a man's thumb and wants to consume any form of life that falls in its path. It is also mentioned that they can completely pick the flesh from a horseHorse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
in six minutes.
The action is set "in the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
", where Leiningen (who is referred to ambiguously as one of several "settlers" in the area) owns a large plantation. It is never specified what crops the plantation grows, but Leiningen employs more than four hundred laborers and has brought the plantation to high success through his planning, intelligence, knowledge, and reasoned approach to problem solving. The story, as well as the character of Leiningen, stress on several occasions the crucial role that human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
intelligence and ingenuity play in problem solving.
Unlike his fellow settlers, Leiningen is not about to give up years of hard work and planning to "an act of God." He assembles his workers, who are all or mostly indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
, and informs them of the inbound horror. Though the natives are a naturally superstitious and frightened lot, their respect for and trust in Leiningen enables them to remain calm and determined: "The ants were indeed mighty, but not so mighty as the boss." Later in the story, despite suffering setbacks and being given an offer of dismissal with full pay, most of the laborers choose to stay with Leiningen.
Much of the rest of the story is taken up with the days-long struggle in which Leiningen attempts to hold off the huge swath of ants. He uses an ingenious system of levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
s, moat
Moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...
s and "decoy" fields to keep the ants at bay. For example, he draws off some of the ants to a valueless fallow field, while keeping a large portion of the others off of the central compound with a system of defensive canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s. The ants are initially unable to cross over, but soon manage to build bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
s on the bodies of ants who mindlessly sacrifice themselves to the waters.
As the bridges of ant corpses begin to reach the near side of the canals, Leiningen opens a series of sluice gates, greatly increasing the flow of water, and washing away the prior ant bridges. He also employs gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
and other petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
flammables to great effect: the chemicals not only burn the ants when ignited, but also interfere with their chemically-based tracking and sensory organs.
After days of hard fighting, the ants force Leiningen and his remaining workers back to the last line of defense, the plantation house on top of a hill. Leiningen has managed to make a rather large dent in the ant population, but there are still more than enough ants to annihilate Leiningen and what is left of his plantation. Finally, the ants manage to breach Leiningen's last defenses, and all seems lost. However, Leiningen realizes that his original principle of canals and damming could be put to use on a large scale to finally repel the remaining ants: if he dammed the main river itself (a possibility due to large constructs that had already been put in place at the story's outset), the whole plantation would flood, drowning all the ants. He and his men could take refuge in the heights of the manor house, which was on a hill. However, this plan would require reaching the dam itself, which had long been overrun by the ants.
Resolving that he would not go down without knowing that he did all he possibly could, Leiningen puts on a makeshift protective suit, douses himself with gasoline, picks up two spray cans of the same, and makes a run for the dam — through the ants. The climax of the story occurs when he is knocked down by the ants and almost eaten. Thinking about the white bones of a stag and resolving that he cannot die that way, he forces himself to get up and continue running. Despite suffering horrible injuries, including ant bites to the inside of his nose
Human nose
The visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils...
and directly below his eye
Human eye
The human eye is an organ which reacts to light for several purposes. As a conscious sense organ, the eye allows vision. Rod and cone cells in the retina allow conscious light perception and vision including color differentiation and the perception of depth...
s, Leiningen reaches the dam controls and floods the plantation. This meant the death of his entire year's crop, but it also saved the lives of his men, preserved the contents of his great granaries, and destroyed the menace of the ants for everyone else. Luckily, Leiningen survives. At the story's end, Leiningen awakes after recovering from his injuries, his first words: "I told you I would come back, even if I am a bit streamlined."
Adaptations
In 1948, the story was adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS RadioCBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
series, Escape
Escape (radio program)
Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed...
. William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
provided the voice of Leiningen for the January 14th debut broadcast. It was further adapted in 1954 by Ranald MacDougall
Ranald MacDougall
Ranald MacDougall was an American screenwriter who scripted such films as Mildred Pierce , The Unsuspected , June Bride , and The Naked Jungle ....
and Ben Maddow
Ben Maddow
Ben Maddow was a prolific screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 70s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began his career working within the American documentary movement in the 30s.In 1936 he co-founded the short-lived left-wing newsreel The World Today...
into the film The Naked Jungle
The Naked Jungle
The Naked Jungle is a 1954 film directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. Telling the story of an attack of army ants on a Peruvian cocoa plantation, it was based on the short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson.-Plot:As the film opens, Joanna , a...
, starring Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
as Leiningen and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner. In 1959, the story was again adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS Radio series, Suspense
Suspense (radio program)
-Production background:One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era...
. Luis Van Rooten
Luis van Rooten
Luis van Rooten, was an American film actor. He was christened Luis d'Antin van Rooten.Van Rooten earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania and worked as an architect before deciding to pursue film work in Hollywood during World War II...
provided the voice of Leiningen for the November 29th episode.
The story also inspired "Trumbuo's World", the sixth episode of the television series MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
. Stock footage from The Naked Jungle was used in the episode.
h
It was also parodied on the cartoon series Camp Candy
Camp Candy
Camp Candy was a 1989-1992 animated television series produced by DiC Entertainment, with comedian John Candy providing the voice for an animated version of himself.-Overview:The show was set in a fictional summer camp run by Candy...
. In "Candy and the Ants", ohn Candy]l] is faced with a swarm olf voracious "navy ants", which he finally repels by importing anteanters. ("What kind of barbarians are we dealing with?" screams the ant admiral.)
The humor magazine National Lampoon also parodied the story in a short story called "Leiningen and the Snails", in which the title character faces a swarm of "army snails", and has "merely three weeks" to think of a way to defend plantation. He eventually brings in by air enough garlic and butter to cook all the snails into escargo.