And So the Worm Turned

In Defense of Very Small Animals

One day my Uncle Ed was harrowing the field directly across the road from his house. His harrow was a series of metal disks on a bar. He pulled it along behind his tractor, and when he was done the ground was pretty much pulverized, and ready for planting.

Anyway, on this particular day, as he was riding along in the sun, he looked down in front of the tractor and saw a little mouse. The mouse was up on its hind legs, facing him, and it showed no sign of running away, which is what mice usually do in such a situation.

Uncle Ed stopped the tractor and got down for a closer look. The mouse continued to face him, and he soon saw why. The mouse was defending a little nest populated by a bunch of baby mice. It was almost time for lunch, so he turned off his tractor and headed up to the house. 

When he returned, the mouse and her babies were nowhere to be seen. Uncle Ed got on his tractor and finished harrowing the field.

After telling us this story, Uncle Ed added some context for his young listeners. He was a farmer, and he killed mice regularly, especially if he had a pitchfork in his hand. Just, on that one day he had to let that mouse and her brood go.

Why do small animals turn and offer defiance in a hopeless situation? I don't know. But I do know that people have been noting this phenomenon for a long time. Take the lowly worm. The indefatigable researchers at Wikipedia found this, from 1546: "Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne." In Shakespeare"s Henry VI, Part 3, we have this line: "The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on, and doves will peck in safeguard of their brood." (3H6 2.2.17-18.)

Sometime between Shakespeare and Walt Disney's 1937 cartoon "The Worm Turns," the concept evolved to include the underdog actually winning. (To see the cartoon, click here.)

I find this cartoon hilarious, but I feel bound to note that the cartoon itself does not contain a worm. (We do have a worm on the title card.) It appears the cartoonists got so excited by the internal dynamic of their story they forgot to include a worm in the action. Oops.

Today's use of the phrase does not seem to include a guaranteed victory for the little guy, but it does seem to include agency and effective action - as in "I may not have won, but he knows he was in a fight."

The online Cambridge Dictionary has an entry for "the worm turns." It goes like this: "used to describe when a person or group of persons who have been treated badly for a long time suddenly become forceful and stop accepting a difficult situation." 

I think the worm turned on November 3. Whether the little guy wins in the long run is, I think, an open question. The struggle goes on - or, as the French say, La lutte continue. 

See also For Athena, Lidice and the Power of Nothing.