the heron who was hard to please the ants and the grasshopper
the eagle and the jackdaw the dove and the ant
from drawings by bess bruce cleveland
THE ANTS
and
THE GRASSHOPPER
The ants were employing a fine winter’s day in drying grain collected in the summer-time. A grasshopper, perishing from 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 enough. I passed the days in singing.” They then said in derision: “If you were foolish enough to sing all the summer you must dance supperless to bed in the winter.”