The Fly and the Ant by Jean de La Fontaine

In “The Fly and the Ant,” a fly and an ant dispute their relative rank. The fly scorns the ant as a crawling, lowly creature and boasts of her own access to palaces, divine feasts, sacrifices, kings, emperors, and beautiful ladies. She contrasts her supposed grandeur with the ant’s labor of hauling scraps of straw to her hillock. The ant grants that the fly enters palaces and tastes sacrifices first, but points out that she is cursed for doing so and brings no benefit to those she visits. The fly may settle on kings and asses alike, yet her insolence can bring a fatal blow. The ant compares the fly’s vaunted name and habits to those of parasites and spies, predicting that the fly will perish from famine or cold when Phoebus shines on the other hemisphere. By contrast, winter is precious to the ant because she can remain sheltered and enjoy the provisions earned by her summer labor. She leaves the fly with the lesson that glory may be false or true, and that idle boasting does not fill a granary or storehouse.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Poetry · 591 words

First lines

A fly and ant, upon a sunny bank, / Discuss'd the question of their rank. / 'O Jupiter! ' the former said, / 'Can love of self so turn the head, / That one so mean and crawling, / And of so low a calling, / To boast equality shall dare / With me, the daughter of the air? / In palaces I am a guest, / And even at thy glorious feast. / Whene'er the people that adore thee / May immolate for thee a bullock, / I'm sure to taste the meat before thee. / Meanwhile this starveling, in her hillock, / Is living on some bit of straw / Which she has labour'd home to draw. / But tell me now, my little thing, / Do you camp ever on a king, / An emperor, or lady? / I do, and have full many a play-day / On fairest bosom of the fair, / And sport myself upon her hair. / Come now, my hearty, rack your brain / To make a case about your grain. ' / 'Well, have you done? ' replied the ant. / 'You enter palaces, I grant, / And for it get right soundly cursed. / Of sacrifices, rich and fat, / Your taste, quite likely, is the first; -- / Are they the better off for that? / You enter with the holy train; / So enters many a wretch profane. / On heads of kings and asses you may squat; / Deny your vaunting I will not; / But well such impudence, I know, / Provokes a sometimes fatal blow. / The name in which your vanity delights / Is own'd as well by parasites, / And spies that die by ropes -- as you soon will / By famine or by ague-chill, / When Phoebus goes to cheer / The other hemisphere, -- / The very time to me most dear. / Not forced abroad to go / Through wind, and rain, and snow, / My summer's work I then enjoy, / And happily my mind employ, / From care by care exempted. / By which this truth I leave to you, / That by two sorts of glory we are tempted, / The false one and the true. / Work waits, time flies; adieu: -- / This gabble does not fill / My granary or till. '[1]

• Open reader

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Genres

• Fable — The poem uses talking animals in a brief allegorical dispute to deliver a clear moral lesson about false and true glory.
• Didactic Literature — Its central purpose is instruction: the ant's reply teaches the value of labor, prudence, self-sufficiency, and substance over vanity.
• Moral Poetry — Written in verse, the work concludes with an explicit ethical distinction between false glory and true glory.
• Allegory — The fly represents boastful, superficial social ambition, while the ant represents industriousness, foresight, and enduring worth.

Tags

fable · verse dialogue · animal allegory · moral tale · fly · ant · pride · vanity · boasting · humility · labor and industry · idleness

What this Textopian page supports

The Fly and the Ant is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Poetry, Allegory, Animal Tale
• Length: 591 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Fly and the Ant by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine