The Ant and the Cricket

                                 [Poem]
                         The Ant and the Cricket

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 leef 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 misery ant,

To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant 
Him selter from rain:
A mouthful of grain
He wished only to borrow.
He'd repay it tomorrow :

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.
                          [About Poem]
The cricket are known to be carefree and easy-going insects. Here ia a story of a cricket who enjoys himself a lot and later on finds himself in difficulty. Read the poem and see how the ant teaches him a lesson.