Extracted from the website of Association Bouddhiste Vajrayana en France and translated (螞蟻的故事) into English:

The Ants’ Story

One day, an old monk was walking alone near the Monastery when suddenly he heard some noise. He then looked around curiously to find the source of the sound. It was from two ants that were standing under a stone bench arguing with each other. Next to them, there was a crushed Danish cookies’ can and some biscuit pieces.
 
“These biscuit pieces not the same as those we’ve just eaten. Look, there’s some white stuff here,” said ant A.

 “I think it isn’t white, it should be black,” answered ant B who was looking at his companion with hesitation.

 “No, it’s white.” ant A insisted.

 “Why don’t you believe in me?” ant B raised his tone to show his dissatisfaction.

Since both ants were not able to convince each other, they started to argue more excitedly. In order to stop them from quarrelling, the old monk said nicely, “Oh ants, ants!  Don’t quarrel, what you ate are called cookies.” He then pointed at the pictures on the can and explained, “The white ones are nuts while the black ones are raisins.”

The two ants were petrified to hear the monk talking to them in their language. Ant A was more daring, so he moved a few steps towards the old monk and asked in a trembling voice, “Are these pieces really cookies?  They taste delicious. Where’re they from?”

The old monk gave a smile and said, “From the supermarket. The cookies you ate were bought in the supermarket by human. They brought them here to eat and when they bit them, some of the cookies fell onto the ground and were left here.”

 “Supermarket?” both ants said simultaneously and asked the old monk politely, “What’s a supermarket?”

 “A supermarket is a place where daily necessities and food are sold. Every day, there’re trucks delivering goods to the supermarket for sale,” explained the old monk patiently.

 “Trucks?  What’re trucks?” ant A found it strange and continued to ask, “Are the cookies we’re eating now made by the trucks?”

The old monk smiled and answered, “Trucks are vehicles. They can’t make cookies. The cookies are imported from Denmark; they’re first shipped to the harbour by cargo ships and are then delivered to supermarkets for sale by the trucks.”

 “Cargo ships?  What’re cargo ships?” screamed ant A as it found it more and more difficult to understand what the old monk was talking about. Before the old monk could answer ant A, ant B could not wait to ask, “Demark?  How’s it like?  Why’s it called Denmark?”

The two ants became more and more curious with what they were told. At first, the old monk intended to answer their questions. However, after considering that they would go on asking a series of entangled questions like: What is northern Europe?  How big is it?  etc., he tried to simplify his answer, “Denmark is a place where it’s very far from here. Its location is so far that it’s completely out of your imagination.”

Hearing this, the two ants started to calm down. The old monk then told them kindly, “Oh ants!  Ants!  Why do you two have so many questions?  You even don’t know what nuts and raisins are at the very beginning, so why bother to ask for things that are beyond your understanding.  Let’s stop asking now and continue to enjoy your cookies instead.” When the old monk looked up, he found that it was getting dark so he left the ants and went back to the Monastery.

Postscript

♦	The Ants’ Story is a fable. In the story, the main characters, the two ants kept on asking the old monk a series of questions, one arising from the previous answer. This reflects that the curiosities of sentient beings are endless in nature, when they have one answer in hand, they will ask for another; when they get two, they will like to have three … this goes on and on forever and ever.
♦	Though the old monk was so merciful that he did not mind taking the troubles to answer the ants’ questions, in reality, ants are unable to distinguish white and black colours, nor can they understand the process of the delivery of cookies. Denmark, cargo ships, trucks and supermarkets are totally out of their imagination. The answers to the questions that they asked are all beyond their intelligence to understand. Similarly, it is impossible for a primary pupil trying greedily to comprehend the textbooks of university students!  In fact, there are different learning modes at different learning stages and all of them have to be followed one after the other to ensure effective learning. For instance, primary pupils do not need to ponder the secondary curriculum; for secondary students, why do they have to bother making research on university textbooks so urgently?
♦	Temporarily, it is better to deal with matters within our abilities first, there is no need to force ourselves to handle matters that are out of our capabilities for the time being. We can employ this fable (the ants’ story) as a mirror to view ourselves to see if we are as ignorance as the two ants. in the story who are always trying to explore answers that are far beyond their knowledge. Actually, the Ants’ Story is a metaphor: to acquire Buddhism efficiently, it is necessary to learn it gradually. Lay the foundations firmly before going on to investigate different Buddhist dharma in depth. That is why there are Stages in learning Tantric.
•	Each person is curious as well as eager to learn. Having the chance to get along with Guru is very precious; it is regarded as one’s good destiny. On the other hand, the time that we can stay together with Guru is also very limited. Thus, if we do not grasp the time wisely by asking nonsense questions or talking about issues that are not related to oneself or tantric practices, it is considered to be a waste!
•	If one considers that one does not mind wasting own time in one’s life, alright it is fine and none of others’ business!  However, as one has already wasted and hindered the learning time of other practitioners, disciples and learners, one is still regarded as selfish and inconsiderate!!
•	More seriously, one has wasted Guru’s precious time. Though Guru does not mind losing his time by saying that he has devoted all his time and life to teaching Buddhism, one has indeed wasted Guru’s time to teach those who need more chances to learn Buddhism and have higher potentials to succeed than oneself !!!