The Grasshopper and the Ant

A gay Grasshopper spends the summer singing and reaches winter with neither meat nor bread. Hungry, she asks her neighbour the Ant to lend her wheat until the season returns, promising to repay double the amount before the harvest. The Ant, who is little inclined to lend, asks how the Grasshopper spent the summer. When the Grasshopper says she sang night and day for every listener, the Ant tells her that, since she sang, she must now dance.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Didactic Literature, Moral Tale · 301 words

First lines

A Grasshopper gay / Sang the summer away, / And found herself poor / By the winter's first roar. / Of meat or of bread, / Not a morsel she had! / So a begging she went, / To her neighbour the ant, / For the loan of some wheat, / Which would serve her to eat, / Till the season came round. / 'I will pay you,' she saith, / 'On an animal's faith, / Double weight in the pound / Ere the harvest be bound. ' / The ant is a friend / (And here she might mend) / Little given to lend. / 'How spent you the summer? ' / Quoth she, looking shame / At the borrowing dame. / 'Night and day to each comer / I sang, if you please. ' / 'You sang! I'm at ease; / For 'tis plain at a glance, / Now, ma'am, you must dance. '[1]

• Open reader

Similar titles

• The Two Mules by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Bear The Monkey And The Hog by Tomas De Iriarte
• The Frog That Wished To Be As Big As The Ox by Jean De La Fontaine
• The Crow And The Turkey by Tomas De Iriarte
• The Owl And The Toad by Tomas De Iriarte
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Genres

• Fable — The poem uses talking animals and a brief illustrative plot to convey a practical moral about preparation, labor, and the consequences of improvidence.
• Didactic Literature — Its central purpose is instructional: the Grasshopper's winter hunger contrasts with the Ant's preparedness, teaching a lesson about foresight and responsibility.
• Moral Tale — The narrative presents a clear ethical conflict between leisure and work and concludes with a pointed consequence rather than a neutral resolution.
• Animal Tale — Animal characters are anthropomorphized, speaking, borrowing food, judging behavior, and representing recognizable human attitudes.

Tags

fable · verse narrative · animal allegory · moral tale · French classical literature · seventeenth century · summer · winter · rural setting · grasshopper · ant · singing

What this Textopian page supports

The Grasshopper 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 Tale, Animal Tale, Narrative Poetry
• Length: 301 words
• Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Grasshopper 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 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)
• The Swallow and the Little Birds (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine