No Work, No Food' (the Cricket And The Ants)
During the spring one cricket was very happy. The sun was warm, and there was plenty of food. 'What more could one wish for ?' he thought and went hopping through the meadow, singing and dancing in a joyous mood. What the foolish creature did not know was that the spring must pass. If he knew, he did not care for it. He was young, and there was beauty in everything. But soon the flowers of spring began to fade and wither. The days became shorter.
The sun was less warm and the breeze more cold. Still the young cricket was intoxicated with happiness. He did not give any thought to the future. One day, the snow began to fall before he could store food for the winter, the vegetation perished in the freezing cold. He went about in search of food hut found nothing: His legs went numb by hopping on the hard, cold sheet of ice. Then he saw an army of ants coming out of a dried and hollow stump of a tree.
He approached them and begged for food. 'How is it that your food has run short in the beginning of the winter?' the ants asked him. 'I had not stored any food,' he replied in a faint voice, 'I sang and danced and did not realize that the winter would be cruel.' The ants were no less cruel than the winter. 'Why should we give you food?
What can you give us in return' they demanded. 'I will sing and dance for you,' he replied. But when he tried to sing and dance, his legs did not move, and with a groan he collapsed on the frozen ground, and died.'