THE ANT AND THE
CRICKET
The Brothers Grimm
Once upon a time... one
hot summer, a cricket sang cheerfully on the branch of a tree, while down
below, a long line of ants struggled under the weight of their load
of grains; and between one song and the next, the cricket spoke to the
ants. "Why are you working so hard? Come into the shade, away from
the sun, and sing a song with me." But the tireless ants went on with
the work... "We can't do that," they said, "We must store
away food for the winter. When the weather's cold and the ground white
with snow, there's nothing to eat, and we'll survive the winter only if
the pantry is full."
"There's plenty of
summer to come," replied the cricket, "and lots of time to fill
the pantry before winter. I'd rather sing! How can anyone work in this
heat and sun?"
And so all summer, the
cricket sang while the ants laboured. But the days turned into weeks and
the weeks into months. Autumn came, the leaves began to fall and the
cricket left the bare tree. The grass too was turning thin and yellow. One
morning, the cricket woke shivering with cold. An early frost tinged the
fields with white and turned the last of the green leaves brown: winter
had come at last. The cricket wandered, feeding on the few dry stalks left
on the hard frozen ground. Then the snow fell and she could find nothing
at all to eat. Trembling and famished, she thought sadly of the warmth and
her summer songs. One evening, she saw a speck of light in the distance,
and trampling through the thick snow, made her way towards it.
"Open the door!
Please open the door! I'm starving. Give me some food!" An ant leant
out of the window.
"Who's there? Who is
it?"
"It's me - the
cricket. I'm cold and hungry, with no roof over my head."
"The cricket? Ah,
yes! I remember you. And what were you doing all summer while we were
getting ready for winter?"
"Me? I was singing
and filling the whole earth and sky with my song!"
"Singing, eh?"
said the ant. "Well, try dancing now!"
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