THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
In a field one summer’s day a grasshopper was happily hopping, chirping, and singing to
its heart’s content. An ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to
the nest.
The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. “Why do you work so hard, dear ant?” he
would say. “Come, rest for a while and listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and
bright. Why waste the sunshine in labor and toil?”
The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the field a little faster. This
would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. ‘What a silly little ant you are!’ he would call after
her. ‘Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the summer! Live a little!’ And the
grasshopper would hop away across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.
Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun was hardly seen, and
the days were short and grey, the nights are long and dark. It became freezing cold, and snow
began to fall. The grasshopper didn’t feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had
nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer’s field were
covered in snow, and there was no food to be found. Suddenly, he remembered the ant who stored
a lot of food.
On the night when the ant was comfortably warming herself and eating the foods she
gathered the limping, starving and weak grasshopper knocked on her door pleading to give him
shelter and food. “I’m hungry and cold, please pity me and at least give me some food”, her friend
grasshopper pleaded. The ant pitied her friend and let him in inside her house giving him shelter
to warm himself and food to satisfy his hunger. On the other hand, the grasshopper was amazed
at the amount of food that the ant was able to store.
“Thank you my friend. Now I understand what you mean when you said that when the
weather is good you should gather. Unlike me who did nothing but to dance and sing during the
whole summer”, Grasshopper said.
“Do not worry my friend. I have a lot of food. Here, you should eat more so that you can regain
your energy. What’s important is that you have learned from your mistakes”, the ant humbly replied
to the grasshopper.
The grasshopper was embarrassed for doing nothing last summer but continue to eat his
food as what the ant said to him. While ant on the other hand was happy to see that her friend has
change.