The cats replied:
‘Feed us with milk.’
The grasshopper ran to the cow:
‘Cow! give me milk, the milk I shall give to the cats, the cats will leave the rats alone, the rats will leave the barn,’ etc., etc.
The cow replied:
‘Feed me with grass.’
The grasshopper applied to the earth, and said:
‘O earth! give me grass, the grass I shall give to the cow, the cow will give me milk, the milk I shall give to the cats, then the cats will leave the rats alone, and the rats will leave the barn, the barn will give me millet, the millet I shall give to the hen, the hen will give me chickens, the chickens I shall give to the kites, then the kites will leave the jays, and the jays will leave the oak, the oak will give me acorns, the acorns I shall give to the sow, the sow will give me a bristle, and with this bristle I shall save my drowning friend.’
The earth gave the grass ... and finally the grasshopper obtained the bristle, and hastened with it to his drowning friend, but, to his astonishment, the ant was quite dead when he pulled him out. This story teaches that help is only valuable when it is given in time, that the earth alone refuses not to yield her gifts to him that asks, and that all other things exist only by reciprocal services.