31 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
31 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
THE ANT AND THE CRICKET
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Once upon a time... one hot summer, a cricket sang cheerfully on the branch
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of a tree, while down below, a long line of ants struggled damely under the
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weight of their load of grains; and between one song and the next, the cricket
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spoke to the ants. "Why are you working so hard? Come into the shade, away from
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the sun, and sing a song with me." But the tireless ants went on with the
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work... "We can't do that," they said, "We must store away food for the winter.
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When the weather`s cold and the ground white with snow, there's nothing to eat,
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and we'll survive the winter only if the pantry is full."
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"There's plenty of summer to come," replied the cricket, "and lots of time
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to fill the pantry before winter. I'd rather sing! How can anione work in this
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heat and sun?"
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And so all summer, the cricket sang while the ants laboured. But the days
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turned into weeks and the weeks into months. Autumn came, the leaves began to
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fall and the cricket left the bare tree. The grass too was turning thun and
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yellow. One morning, the cricket woke shivering with cold. An early frost
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tinged the fields with white and turned the last of the green leaves brown:
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winter had come at last. The cricket wandered, feeding on the few dry stalks
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left on the hard frozen ground. Then the snow fell and she could find nothing
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at all to eat. Trembling and famished, she thought sadly of the warmth and her
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summer songs. One evening, she saw a speck of light in the distance, and
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trampling through the thick snow, made her way towards it.
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"Open the door! Please open the door! I'm starving. Give me some food!" An
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ant leant out of the window.
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"Who's there? Who is it?"
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"It's me - the cricket. I'm cold and hungry, with no roof over my head."
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"The cricket? Ah, yes! I remember you. And what were you doing all summer
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while we were getting ready for winter?"
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"Me? I was singing and filling the whole earth and sky with my song!"
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"Singing, eh?" said the ant. "Well, try dancing now!" |