Aesop's Fables (Joseph Jacobs)
Jacobs 36. The Ant and the Grasshopper (Perry
373)
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, 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.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead
of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant,
"and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got
plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued
its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself
dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and
grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper
knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.
The
Fables of Aesop, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by
Richard Heighway (1894). The page images come from Google
Books. The digitized text comes from Project
Gutenberg. You can purchase this inexpensive Dover edition, The
Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs from amazon.com.
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