The Ant and the Grasshopper
- 2 minute read
- Ages 5-9
- Aesop's Fables
All through the summer the grasshopper sang.
He sat in the long grass with his legs folded and made music from morning until dark, and the field was full of the sound of him.
Along the path below, a line of ants went back and forth, and back and forth, carrying grains of wheat one at a time down into the earth.
Come and sing
"Why do you work like that?" the grasshopper called down one afternoon. "Look at this field. There is food everywhere. Come up here and sing with me."
An ant stopped, still holding her grain.
"We are storing food for the winter," she said. "You should do the same."
"Winter is a long way off," said the grasshopper.
"It is not," said the ant, and she went on down into the earth.
The field changes
The grasshopper sang through the rest of the summer, and he sang through the warm end of autumn.
Then one morning the grass was white and crackled underfoot, and the seeds were gone, and there was nothing left in the field at all.
He searched for three days. He found nothing.
On the fourth day, thin and shaking, he came to the ants' door under the tree root and knocked.
An ant opened it. Behind her the storeroom was warm and full of wheat, and there were ants in there talking.
"Please," said the grasshopper. "I have nothing. Could you spare a little?"
The ant looked at him for a long moment.
"What were you doing all summer," she asked, "while we were carrying grain past you every day?"
"I was singing," said the grasshopper.
"Then you had your summer," said the ant, "and we are having our winter."
And she closed the door.
Moral of the story
Enjoy today, but prepare for tomorrow. The season you are in now will not last.
Questions and answers
- What did the grasshopper do all summer?
He sat in the long grass and sang from morning until dark instead of gathering food.
- What were the ants doing while the grasshopper sang?
They were carrying grains of wheat one at a time into their storeroom underground, saving food for the winter.
- What did the grasshopper say when the ant warned him?
He said winter was a long way off and invited her to stop working and come and sing with him.
- What happened when winter came?
The grass turned white, all the seeds disappeared, and the grasshopper could find nothing to eat for three days.
- Why did the ant refuse to help?
Because the grasshopper had been warned all summer and had chosen singing over preparing, while the ants had worked for what they now had.
Word meanings
- grasshopper
- A jumping insect that makes a chirping sound with its legs.
- autumn
- The season between summer and winter when leaves fall.
- crackled
- Made small sharp sounds, like frost breaking underfoot.
- spare
- To give away something you have enough of.
Questions about The Ant and the Grasshopper
What is the moral of The Ant and the Grasshopper?
The moral is that it is wise to prepare in good times for the hard times that will come. Working today protects you tomorrow.
Is the ant being cruel at the end?
Readers disagree, and that is part of why the fable lasts. The ant is being fair rather than kind, and the story lets children argue about whether that is enough.
What season does the story begin in?
It begins in summer, when food is plentiful and the grasshopper sees no reason to work.
What can children learn from this fable?
That small amounts of effort repeated every day add up, and that ignoring a warning does not make the problem go away.