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:

Aesop's Fables
Copyright 1881
Translator: unknown
WM. L. Allison, New York
Illustrator: Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset, et.al.