Leiningen Versus the Ants

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"Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson is a classic short story published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire Magazine.

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 ants, described as "an elemental—an act of God!"

[edit] Plot Synopsis

"Ten miles long, two miles wide—ants, nothing but ants!" So the district commissioner (who narrates the radio adaptation in the first person) describes the threat Leiningen faces. Moreover, each ant is approximately the size of a man's thumb, and out to consume anything and everything organic that falls in its path. It is also mentioned that they can completely pick the flesh from a stag in six minutes.

The action is set "in the Brazilian wilderness," where Leiningen (who is ambiguously referred to 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, know-how and reasoned approach to problem solving. The story, as well as Leiningen himself, stress on several occasions the crucial role that human intelligence and ingenuity play in problem solving and, by extension, all human successes.

Unlike his fellow settlers, all of whom have either fled or are preparing to flee, 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 Indians, 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, none of the laborers desert 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 levees, moats 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 canals. The ants are initially unable to cross over, but soon manage to build bridges on the bodies of ants who mindlessly sacrifice themselves to the waters.

As the bridges of ant corpses begins 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.

The denouement occurs when, after days of hard fighting, the ants have forced Leiningen and his remaining workers back to the last line of defense. However, Leiningen has also managed to make a rather large dent in the ant population. Nevertheless, there are still more than enough ants to annihilate Leiningen and what's left of his plantation. Finally, this last group manages to breach Leiningen's last defenses, and all seems lost. Then, it occurs to him 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 dams entirely the main river itself (a possibility due to large constructs that have already been put in place), he realizes that the whole plantation would flood, drowning all the ants. He and his men could take refuge in the heights of the manor house, which is on a hill. However, this plan would require reaching the dam itself, which had long been overrun by the ants.

Resolving that he won't 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 decides to make a run for the dam—through the ants. Despite suffering horrible injuries, including ant bites to the inside of his nose and directly below his eyes, Leiningen makes it to the dam controls, and manages to flood the plantation. This means the death of his entire year's crop and a return to square one, but it will also save the lives of his men and destroy the menace of the ants for everyone else. Luckily, Leiningen survives, and when he first wakes up after his injuries, his words are, "I told you I would come back, even if I am a bit streamlined."

[edit] Adaptations in other media

In 1948 the story was adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS Radio 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 a film entitled The Naked Jungle, starring Charlton Heston as Leiningen (and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner).

The story also inspired Trumbo's World, the sixth episode of the Richard Dean Anderson television series, MacGyver.