THE ANTS were spending a fine winter’s day drying grain collected
in the summertime. A Grasshopper, perishing with 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.”