Fairy Tale Junction

A Compendium of Fairy Tales I remember
...for my children

The Grasshopper and the Ants

An Aesop Fable

ONE fine day in winter some Ants were busy drying their store of corn, which had got rather damp during a long spell of rain. Presently up came a Grasshopper and begged them to spare her a few grains. "For," she said, "I'm simply starving."

The Ants stopped work for a moment, though this was against their principles.

"May we ask," said they, "what you were doing with yourself all last summer? Why didn't you collect a store of food for the winter?"

"The fact is," replied the Grasshopper, "I was so busy singing that I hadn't the time."

"If you spent the summer singing," replied the Ants, "you can't do better than spend the winter dancing." And they chuckled and went on with their work.

Moral: Waste your time as you please, but never let yourself become dependant upon the self-righteous.

Prior | Tell us what you think | Next

Add to Your Social Bookmarks: Del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit Simpy Spurl Y! MyWeb - Netscape - StumbleUpon StumbleUpon