HomeStoriesThe Ants and the Grasshopper

✦ A Classic Story ✦

The Ants and the Grasshopper

One of Aesop’s Fables

All summer long the Grasshopper made music while the Ants stored up grain. Now winter is coming, and the Grasshopper is hungry. Aesop’s classic fable about working ahead.

Watch the Read-Aloud Read the Fable

Read aloud by Storyland Classics  ✦  1 min 37 sec  ✦  Watch on YouTube

✦ The Story ✦

The Ants and the Grasshopper

From The Æsop for Children (1919), the edition published online by the Library of Congress. Public domain.

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.

“What!” cried the Ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?”

“I didn’t have time to store up any food,” whined the Grasshopper; “I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.”

The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.

“Making music, were you?” they cried. “Very well; now dance!” And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.

The moralThere’s a time for work and a time for play.

✦ About the Story ✦

Work Before Play

Aesop is said to have been a storyteller in ancient Greece more than 2,500 years ago. Whether or not he was a single real person, the short animal tales told under his name have been retold in almost every language, and each one ends with a lesson, or moral. This telling comes from The Æsop for Children, a 1919 collection illustrated by Milo Winter that is still a favorite with families and teachers.

This fable is sometimes called “The Ant and the Grasshopper.” Its lesson is about planning ahead: the Ants worked while the weather was good, so they have food for the winter. Many families also like to talk about kindness. Would it have been nicer if the Ants had shared?

✦ Talk About It ✦

Questions to Share

  • What were the Ants doing all summer? What was the Grasshopper doing?
  • Why was the Grasshopper hungry in the autumn?
  • Do you think the Ants should have shared their food? Why or why not?

✦ Keep Reading ✦

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