THE Ants and the Grasshoppers lived in
the great field. The Ants were busy all
the time gathering a store of grain to lay
by for Winter use. They gave themselves so
little pleasure that their merry neighbors,
the Grasshoppers, came at last to take scarcely
any notice of them.
When the frost came, it put an end to the
work of the Ants and the merry-making of
the Grasshopper, But one fine Winter's day,
When the Ants were employed in spreading
their grain in the sun to dry, a Grasshopper,
who was nearly perishing with
hunger,
chanced to pass by.
"Good day to you, kind neighbour,"
said
she: "will you not lend me a little food?
I
will certainly pay you before this time next
year."
"How does it happen that you have no food
of your own?" asked an old Ant. "There
was an abundance in the field where we lived
all summer, and your people seemed to be
active enough. What were you doing, pray?"
"Oh," said the Grasshopper, forgetting his
hunger, "I sang all the day long, and all the
night, too."
"Well, then," interrupted the Ant, "if you
found it so gay to sing all the Summer, you
may as well try to dance away the Winter,"
and she went on with her work, all the while
singing the old song:---
"We ants never borrow: we ants never
lend."
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