Once a little sugar ant made up his mind to roam -

To fare away far away, far away from home.

He had eaten all his breakfast, and he had his Ma’s consent

To see what he should chance to see; and here’s the way he went -

Up and down a fern frond, round and round a stone,

Down a gloomy gully where he loathed to be alone,

Up a mighty mountain range, seven inches high,

Through the fearful forest grass that nearly hid the sky,

Out along a bracken bridge, bending in the moss,

Till he reached a dreadful desert that was feet and feet across.

'Twas a dry, deserted desert, and a trackless land to tread,

He wished that he was home again and tucked-up tight in bed.

His little legs were wobbly, his strength was nearly spent,

And so he turned around again and here’s the way he went -

Back away from desert lands, feet and feet across,

Back along the bracken bridge bending in the moss,

Through the fearful forest grass, shutting out the sky,

Up a mighty mountain range seven inches high,

Down a gloomy gully, where he loathed to be alone,

Up and down a fern frond and round and round a stone.

A dreary ant, a weary ant, resolved no more to roam,

He staggered up the garden path and popped back home.