The Ants and the Grasshopper
By Aesop
THE ANTS were employing a fine winter's day in drying grain collected in the summer time. A Grasshopper, perishing with famine, passed by and earnestly begged for a little food. The Ants inquired of him: Why did you not treasure up food during the summer?
He replied: I had not leisure; I passed the days in singing.
They then said: If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer, you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.
Moral:
Idleness brings want.
See also:
The Grasshopper And The Ant by Jean de La Fontaine
Source Book
Aesop's Fables
by Aesop
Translated by unknown
Illustrated by: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.
Copyright 1881
Published by WM. L. Allison, New York