Leiningen Versus the Ants
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"Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson is a classic
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
published in the December 1938 edition of '' Esquire''. It is a translation, probably by Stephenson himself, of "Leiningens Kampf mit den Ameisen" which was originally published in German in 1938.


Plot summary

Leiningen, the owner of a plantation in the Brazilian rainforest, is warned by the district commissioner that a swarm of ferocious and organised soldier ants is approaching and that he must flee. Unlike his neighbours, Leiningen is not about to give up years of hard work and planning to "an act of God", as he believes in the superiority of the human brain and has already made preparations. He convinces his workers to stay and fight with him. When the ants reach his estate, Leiningen seals it by filling a moat that surrounds it on four sides, the fourth being a river. The ants attempt to cross over by covering the waters with tree leaves, but he thwarts them repeatedly by emptying then flooding the moat. Eventually, the ants breach that line of defence and the men retreat behind a second moat, this time filled with
petrol Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
. Leiningen is able to incinerate several waves of attack, but runs out of petrol when the pumps malfunction. After days of hard fighting, the ants breach the last defenses, and all seems lost. However, Leiningen realizes that his original principle of canals and damming can be put to use: if he dams the main river itself, the whole plantation will flood, drowning all the ants. He and his men can take refuge in the heights of the
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
on a hill. However, this plan requires reaching the dam, long overrun by the ants. Leiningen puts on a makeshift protective suit, douses himself with petrol, picks up two spray cans of petrol and runs for the dam — through the ants. He reaches the dam controls and floods the plantation; this means the destruction of his year's crop, but it will save his men, preserve the contents of his granaries and destroy the menace of the ants. The climax of the story occurs on the return journey when he is knocked down by the ants and almost devoured. Thinking about a stag he had seen the ants devour to the bones, he forces himself to get up. Despite suffering horrible injuries, including ant bites to the inside of his nose and directly below his eyes, Leiningen continues running, reaches the concrete ditch with the blazing petrol and survives. At the story's end, Leiningen awakes while recovering from his injuries; his final words before going to sleep are: "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 Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...
as part of the CBS Radio series, ''
Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
'' with William Conrad providing the voice of Leiningen for the January 14th debut broadcast. ''Escape'' revived the story twice, on May 23, 1948 (again with Conrad as Leiningen) and on August 4, 1949 (with Tudor Owen as Leiningen).Radio drama
''escape-suspense.com''. Retrieved: August 7, 2013.
It was adapted in 1954 by
Ranald MacDougall Ranald MacDougall (March 10, 1915 – December 12, 1973) was an American screenwriter who scripted such films as '' Mildred Pierce'' (1945), '' The Unsuspected'' (1947), ''June Bride'' (1948), and '' The Naked Jungle'' (1954), and shared screenw ...
and
Ben Maddow Ben Maddow (born David Wolff, August 7, 1909 in Passaic, New Jersey – October 9, 1992 in Los Angeles, California) was an American screenwriter and documentarian from the 1930s through the 1970s. Educated at Columbia University, Maddow began ...
into the film ''
The Naked Jungle ''The Naked Jungle'' is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. Telling the story of an attack of army ants on a Brazilian cocoa plantation, it was based on the 1937 short story " ...
'', starring Charlton Heston as Leiningen and
Eleanor Parker Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
as his
mail order bride A mail-order bride is a woman who lists herself in catalogs and is selected by a man for marriage. In the twentieth century, the trend was primarily towards women living in developing countries seeking men in more developed nations. The majority ...
Joanna, and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner.Bosley Crowther review
''nytimes.com''. Retrieved: August 7, 2013. The story was again adapted into a radio play as part of the CBS Radio series, '' Suspense''. William Conrad again provided the voice of Leiningen for the August 25, 1957 episode and
Luis van Rooten Luis d'Antin van Rooten (November 29, 1906 – June 17, 1973) was a Mexican-born American actor. He was sometimes credited as Louis Van Rooten. Van Rooten was born in Mexico City, Mexico, and emigrated to the United States with his parents when ...
played Leiningen in the November 29, 1959 episode. The story inspired "Trumbo's World", the sixth episode of the television series ''
MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both p ...
''. Stock footage from ''The Naked Jungle'' was used in the episode. It was parodied on the cartoon series ''
Camp Candy ''Camp Candy'' is a 1989-1992 animated television series produced by DIC Animation City, Saban Entertainment and Worldvision Enterprises, in association with Frostbacks Productions, with comedian John Candy providing the voice for an animated versi ...
''. In "Candy and the Ants",
John Candy John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian known mainly for his work in Hollywood films. Candy rose to fame in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its '' SCTV'' seri ...
is faced with a swarm of voracious "navy ants", which he finally repels by importing anteaters. ("What kind of barbarians are we dealing with?" screams the ant admiral.) The humor magazine '' National Lampoon'' 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 the plantation. He eventually brings in by air enough garlic and butter to cook all the snails into
escargot Snails are considered edible in many areas such as the Mediterranean region, Africa, or Southeast Asia, while in other cultures, snails are seen as a taboo food. In American English, edible land snails are also called escargot, taken from the Fre ...
. In November 2018, the short story was adapted for
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''
15 Minute Drama ''15 Minute Drama'', previously known as ''Woman's Hour Drama'', was a BBC Radio 4 Arts and Drama production strand that was broadcast between 1998 and 2021. It consisted of 15-minute episodes, broadcast every weekday 10:45–11:00 am (i.e. ...
'' series with
Timothy Watson Timothy Watson is a British actor best known for his role as Rob Titchener in BBC Radio 4's long-running soap opera ''The Archers'' and voice roles as Mumkhar in ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' and Urianger Augurelt in ''Final Fantasy XIV''. Early ...
playing the title character.


References


External links


''Leiningen Versus the Ants'' by Carl Stephenson (A history of the work)
(archived link)

* Streaming audio
''Leiningen Versus the Ants''
on
Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
: January 14, 1948
''Leiningen Versus the Ants''
on
Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
: May 23, 1948
''Leiningen Versus the Ants''
on
Escape Escape or Escaping may refer to: Computing * Escape character, in computing and telecommunication, a character which signifies that what follows takes an alternative interpretation ** Escape sequence, a series of characters used to trigger some so ...
: August 4, 1949
''Leiningen Versus the Ants''
on Suspense: November 29, 1959 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leiningen Versus The Ants 1938 short stories Fictional ants German short stories Horror short stories Works originally published in Esquire (magazine) Short stories adapted into films