The Secret Hidden in the Haunted House

A long time ago, there was a strange village named Tikapur. There was a big and empty house there. That house was next to the village's biggest and oldest peepal tree. Since the house was very old, no one lived there.Some people of the village used to say jokingly— "A ghost lives inside that house, you know, strange sounds come from there late at night!"However, Samir did not believe in ghosts and spirits at all. He loved reading new books and discovering the strange secrets of the world very much. After hearing the villagers' talk, his curiosity was piqued even more. He said with a laugh, "I will stay there myself and find out what the secret is!"Samir cleaned a room of that house and arranged to stay there. The night was growing deep. While reading a book, he felt a little cold and lazy. He went to the kitchen and made a cup of hot and sweet tea for himself.Placing the cup of tea on the table right next to the inkpot and pen, he went towards the washroom for about two minutes to freshen up.It was completely silent in the room. When Samir returned from the washroom, he looked towards the table. Suddenly, his heartbeat shot up!The cup of hot tea he had just placed there was completely empty! Not even a single drop of tea was left in the cup."How can this be?" Samir scratched his head. "I had just left after placing the hot tea. Did someone enter the room? Is what the villagers said true?"A little fear and a lot of curiosity arose in Samir's mind. He looked around every corner of the room, but there was no one there.Samir came near the table again and began to look closely. From the corner of the table, tiny horse-riders as small as flies came running in a procession! Behind them were also tiny and cute dogs as small as gnats. They were playing hide-and-seek at the corner of the bed with creatures as small as little grains of rice. Samir was astonished.In a little while, a huge parade came onto the table. Those tiny people were wearing colorful clothes. They pitched tiny tents on top of the table. After that, a tiny king wearing purple-colored clothes and a red hat arrived. The king sat grandly like a king on top of the lid of the inkpot.Right at that moment, sweet music echoed in the room. Tiny sarangis and flutes began to play. The music was so melodious that Samir began to listen to the tune with a gentle smile.The king said in his tiny voice, "Soldiers, go! Catch fish from the pond!"The tiny soldiers cast a small net into Samir's water bowl and caught the tiny insects swimming there. They lit a tiny fire at the corner of the table and began to cook food. A sweet aroma like chocolate and spices spread throughout the room.After eating to their fill, that tiny king became a little arrogant. Pointing his tiny finger towards Samir, he mocked, "Hah! What a big man this is, he only looks at books all day but sleeps on this bed. I am such a rich and powerful king! We even consumed his tea, and he didn't even realize it! If he serves me, I will give him my leftover sweets."Seeing the pride of that tiny king, Samir felt like laughing and also felt a little angry. He understood right away that the secret of the disappearing tea was hidden here. He came up with a trick to scare those tiny creatures. He picked up his big book and lightly hit it 'thud' on the table!Hearing the loud sound of the book, all the tiny people scrambled in panic, saying, "Ouch, let's run, let's run!" Some slithered down the legs of the table, while some entered inside a small hole in the floor. Sitting on the chair, Samir was watching the scurrying of those tiny people very intently.As he watched, all of them disappeared in a moment, and the room became completely silent again just like before.After a while, Samir woke up with a start. He looked here and there, but there was no one in the room.Who were those tiny people seen in the dream in reality? Could this be the ghost the villagers talked about? Samir began to think. He hurriedly took out a magnifying glass and a flashlight from his pocket and began to look closely toward that same small hole in the floor where those people had run and entered in the dream.Looking there, Samir fell to the floor laughing and laughing!There was no ghost or magical people there. Instead, there was a big and very beautiful city of hundreds of red ants! Ants love sweet things immensely. While Samir had gone to the washroom, getting the sweet smell of the tea, hundreds of ants had carried that tea in a short moment and taken it inside their hole!"Oh goodness! I mistook the world of tea-stealing ants for a city of ghosts and magic!" He burst into a hearty laugh.Samir did not hurt those hardworking ants at all. He gently gathered them in a box and safely released them outside on the resting platform in the garden.The next morning, he called all the villagers and said, "There is no need to be blindly afraid, friends. There was no ghost in that house, only a small and delightful world of ants was hidden, which even stole and consumed my tea last night!"Hearing Samir's words, the children and people of the village all burst out laughing. After that, the village's fear disappeared forever, and people started living happily in that house again.