Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ANT AND THE CRICKET, by ANONYMOUS First Line: "a silly young cricket, accustomed to sing" Last Line: "if you live without work, you must live without food" Subject(s): Crickets | ||||||||
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; A mouthful of grain He wished only to borrow, He'd repay it to-morrow; 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 sir, did you lay nothing by When the weather was warm?" Said 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," said the ant, "and dance winter away." Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket, And out of the door turned the poor little cricket. Though this is a fable, the moral is good: If you live without work, you must live without food. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONG OF THE BUILDERS by MARY OLIVER POEMS TO A BROWN CRICKET by JAMES WRIGHT THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET by JAMES HENRY LEIGH HUNT THE GRASSHOPPER AND CRICKET by JOHN KEATS THE CRICKET by FREDERICK GODDARD TUCKERMAN CRICKET ON THE HEARTH by PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER JACK FROST AND THE CATY-DID by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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