The Ant and the Cricket
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It was summer. A cricket was resting under the shade of a tree and singing happily. While she was singing, she saw a line of black dots on the ground below. So, she flew down to see what it was. It turned out to be a trail of ants carrying food back to their home under the tree. The cricket laughed and said,“The weather is so hot, why don’t you hide underground to avoid the heat? What fools you are to keep working under such a hot sun.”The ants replied,“We are no fools! If we keep storing food right now, there will be enough food to tide us through winter. What about you? Have you started to store food?”The cricket laughed and said,“Winter is still far away! I’m going off to sing, goodbye!”
When autumn came, the weather grew cool, and the cricket sang even louder than before, while the ants continued to carry food back home. One day, the ants reminded the cricket,“Winter is almost here. Don’t keep singing all day. Quickly go and find some food to store!”The cricket replied,“It is still too early! It is not too late to find food a few days later.”
A few days later, the cricket was singing, when a sudden gust of wind blew in from the north and made the cricket shiver. She thought,“Winter is here, I had better find myself some food.”And so, the cricket began searching high and low for food to last her through the winter. But food had already become scarce and soon she had trouble feeding herself. Eventually, the hungry and cold cricket had no choice but to knock on the ants’ door. The cricket shivered and said,“I’m starving to death. Could you spare me some food?”The ants replied,“We told you to store food, but you insisted on singing. We only have enough food for ourselves this winter and are unable to help you!”
After the door closed, a gust of northern wind came again, and the cricket could only shiver in the cold, full of regret.
