It may be called The Gleanors, or something. They each have a strip of land to glean, with neighbors doing the same. the story is hard to remember, but it was totally interesting. When I think back, I can only say that they must have been an excellent writer, to be able to do so much with so little in the story.
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This is likely "On the Fourth Planet" as described in this question: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/36463/… which sadly does not have an accepted answer (although I believe the answer given is correct).– Organic MarbleCommented Jun 13, 2016 at 21:11
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And also this question scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/89227/… which does have an accepted answer.– Organic MarbleCommented Jun 13, 2016 at 21:12
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I really sounds like " On the Fourth Planet", believe that it is. Anyone know where I can find this story?– Fey RayCommented Jun 13, 2016 at 21:38
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1Fey Ray, since "On the Fourth Planet" seems to be correct, please formally accept the answer below using the checkmark icon near its top left. You are the only one who can do so, and this will assist the moderators in their duplicate management efforts.– OtisCommented Jun 14, 2016 at 22:20
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2Possible duplicate of Looking for a short story title about an alien that encounters a probe on its own planet– OtisCommented May 9, 2018 at 18:46
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1 Answer
Per the OP comments above, this appears to be "On the Fourth Planet," by J. F. Bone, which was originally published in the April 1963 edition of Galaxy. Per ISFDB, it has been collected several times, and is legally available to read in its entirety courtesy of Project Gutenberg.
The story features alien creatures who call themselves "the Ul," with each having a personal name. The protagonist of the story is "the Ul Kworn," who must contend with an unexpected obstacle that threatens him with starvation due to the very precarious balance between the amount of available food and the amount needed to survive. The story does indeed use the verb "to glean" to indicate obtaining food from the land.
The Ul Kworn paused in his search for food, extended his eye and considered the thing that blocked his path.
He hadn't notice the obstacle until he had almost touched it. His attention had been focused upon gleaning every feeder large enough to be edible from the lichens that covered his feeding strip. But the unexpected warmth radiating from the object had startled him. Sundown was at hand. There should be nothing living or non-living that radiated a fraction of the heat that was coming from the gleaming metal wall which lay before him. He expanded his mantle to trap the warmth as he pushed his eye upward to look over the top. It wasn't high, just high enough to be a nuisance. It curved away from him toward the boundaries of his strip, extending completely across the width of his land.
This story has previously been asked about here and here, having received an accepted answer the second time.
