A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing
Through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring,
Began to complain when he found that, at home,
His cupboard was empty, and winter was come.
Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see,
Not a leaf on a tree.
“Oh! what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”
At last by starvation and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant,
To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant
Him shelter from rain,
And a mouthful of grain.
He wished only to borrow;
He’d repay it tomorrow;
If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.
Says the ant to the cricket, “I’m your servant and friend,
But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend.
But tell me, dear cricket, did you lay nothing by
When the weather was warm?” Quoth the cricket,
“Not I!
My heart was so light
That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay.”
“You sang, Sir, you say?
Go then,” says the ant, “and dance the winter away.”
Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,
And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
Folks call this a fable. I’ll warrant it true:
Some crickets have four legs, and some have two.
Summary
This poem is a fable taken from Aesop’s Fables. This poem is about an ant and a cricket. There was a cricket who loved to sing and dance during warm and sunny months of spring. He was short-sighted. He didn’t bother to store food for the rainy season and cold winter.
When the earth was covered with ice and snow, he found that he had nothing to eat. There were no flowers and no leaves on the trees. He grew nervous. Starvation could be seen over his face.
Wet with the rain and shivering with cold, the hungry cricket went to an ant to get shelter and food. He made it clear that he would return the borrowed grain the next day. The miserly ant said humbly that he was the servant and friend of the cricket. But as a matter of principle, the ants neither borrow nor lend. He asked why he never bothered to store something for the rainy day.
The cricket admitted that he had been careless and foolish. He enjoyed the beauties of summer and sang merrily. The ant then told him bluntly to go and dance all winter. He turned the poor cricket out.