The Ant and the Cricket

Chapter Summary

‘The Ant and the Cricket’ is a fable that has been composed in the form of a poem by a famous Greek writer “Aesop”. A fable is a fictional tale or a short story that is brought forth by the writer generally by incorporating different animal characters. These fables are taught to children and in general, are helpful to people as it conveys various moral values.

This poem conveys a social message and teaches an important life lesson with the assistance of an ant. There are two different characters in this poem that is an ant and a cricket. The cricket sings merrily and dances during the spring and the summer season. This creature always enjoys every frame of his life; he is not worried about his future. Henceforth, amidst all the merry moments he has even forgotten to store food for winter. Needless to mention when winter befell upon him he had nothing to eat. He was starving and dying out of hunger. He approached the ant for help and asked the ant to lend him some food. Furthermore, he asked the ant for some shelter as well. However, the ant refused to help him. The ant had a policy that she will neither borrow nor lend. She asked the cricket what he did throughout the spring and summer when food was abundantly available around. Then the cricket replied that he felt so light so he sang and danced all through the season, the ant sarcastically advised him to continue the same during the winter as well and told him to leave his house at once.

In this very instance, the poet conveys a very important message to everybody. The poet tried to inform the people that one should always prepare for the future and plan expenses and activities accordingly. An individual should always be aware of his or her future needs and work on them as early as possible. The casual and reluctant approach toward the future will only lead to critical circumstances that will render a person helpless. Prioritisation is important throughout life.

The cricket says, “Oh! What will become of me?” When does he say it, and why?

The cricket utters the line, “Oh! what will become of me?” in the winter. He said these liens when he realised he has saved up nothing for the winter and there was a substantial lack of food. He looked around and there was not a single crumb of food left to be eaten from the ground shrouded by snow.

He could not see flowers around and not a single leaf to be seen on the trees. The days got colder and he was struck by hunger and fear that he would not survive. HE got afraid that he will die soon.

Find in the poem the lines that mean the same as “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (Shakespeare).

The line written by Shakespeare has similarities with an extract from the poem as well. The line is, “But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend”. This line implies that the ants neither borrow anything from anyone nor do they lend anything to anyone.

These lines were said by the ant when the cricket asked for food and shelter from them.

Ant’s principles

The ant’s principles are quite reasonable. One should always work hard when the sun is high and save for the future so that we do not have to borrow or lend from anyone around. This principle will drive a person to work hard when he or she has time so that they can reap the fruits of success they have sown beforehand.

“Dance the winter away”. Do you think the word ‘dance’ is appropriate here and why?

The ant said to the cricket to “dance the enter way”, she said so to the cricket because the cricket did not utilise his valuable time. He wasted his time around when he had and did nothing to save for the winter. When the cricket was asked what did all summer and spring when he could have easily collected lots of food, the cricket replied that he was so glad that he sang and danced around. Hence the ant replied the same that he should “dance” away the winter as well.

The ant by the term “dance” sarcastically emphasised the cricket’s carelessness and irresponsibility towards his duties. Thus the ant refused to help someone who did nothing to help himself.

FAQs

Q1. What is the moral of this fable?

Ans. The moral of this fable is that a person should work hard and efficiently use their precious time. So they would not have to face any problems in the near future and they would not feel the need to borrow or lend something from any person.

Q2. What can be inferred from the ant’s principle?

Ans. The philosophy that can be derived is that a person should not be answerable and liable to anyone. A person should always be self-sufficient and hence they should utilise their time properly and take proper precautions for the future.

Q3. When does the cricket say “Oh! what will become of me?”

Ans. The cricket utters this line during the winter when he found out that he has saved nothing for this winter. He cannot find a single crumb of food on the snow-covered land, he cannot even see leaves of flowers on plants and trees. At his point, the cricket feels starved and helpless and he fears he would not survive.