"The Ants and the Grasshopper": A Fable Adapted from Aesop

THE ANTS AND THE GRASSHOPPER
A fable adapted by William Ellery Leonard
from "The Ant and the Grasshopper" by Aesop

The Ants one winter day were drying grain,
Collected in the summer not in vain.
A famished Grasshopper desired to take,
He said, a little for his stomach's sake.
The Ants inquired: "Why didst thou nothing store
On those warm days in bounteous months of yore?"
The Grasshopper: "I had no leisure then;
I sang, and having sung, I sang again."

"Who sings in summer," thus an old Ant said,
"In winter dances supperless to bed."


Source: Aesop and Hyssop (1912) by William Ellery Leonard