The Ant and the Grasshopper

This story is called the Ant and the Grasshopper, adapted from Aesop’s fable and read by Ryan Aoto. This is a LibraryCall recording. Far from the cities, across the fields, over the mountains, and deep in the woods, there lived an ant. As is the nature of ants, this ant did not live alone. She lived with hundreds of thousands of her family members in a great colony. Every member of the colony had a role and worked hard to help the family. The little ant was excited to go out and help. She loved to explore. Every day, she would head out to a new area, in search of food. If she found something small, she would bring it back to the colony. If it was big, she would mark it and go back to get a few hundred of her sisters to help her. The ants worked tirelessly. It was summer, and summertime in the woods was a glorious time. The sun was shining. Birds were singing. All manner of creatures were busy, bustling about. Food was plentiful. But the ants knew that, as with all things, good and bad, summer would not last. As is the nature of the seasons, summer would fade, and then fall would too. Winter would come. The woods would grow cold and quiet. Food would be extremely hard to find. The ant queen was a wise queen. She had the workers gather four times the amount of food they could eat in the summer. They stored it and saved it. That way, they had plenty to go around during the cold, hard winter months. One day, the little ant was out exploring, when she heard a beautiful chirping noise. It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was clear, sharp, and cheerful. She followed the sound and found a grasshopper sitting on a rock. “Hello,” the ant said. “Oh,” replied the grasshopper. “Hi! I didn’t see you there.” “I am sorry to bother you,” the ant said. “Were you the one making that noise?” “Oh, yes,” the grasshopper said with a frown. “I’m sorry, was it bothering you?” “No, no, no,” the ant insisted. “It was beautiful. Can I hear more?” The grasshopper’s face lit up with a great, big smile. “Of course,” he said. The grasshopper raised one of his back legs. The ant could see that there were several bumps, or pegs on the side of the leg. The grasshopper took his leg and placed it on the side of his wing casing. This was the hard outer part that protected the grasshopper’s delicate wings. As the grasshopper moved his leg back and forth across his wing casing, the sound rang out. The little ant had heard grasshoppers chirping before. Everyone who has ever set foot in the woods has heard that. This was different. The speed and angles the grasshopper used were special. This wasn’t chirping. This was music! The ant had never heard anything so beautiful. After a few moments, the grasshopper stopped and the ant burst into applause. “That was amazing,” she said. “Thank you,” the grasshopper replied shyly. “I’ve been working on it. I’m having some trouble with parts.” “Thank YOU,” replied the ant. “I would love to hear more.” “Well come up and have a seat,” the grasshopper said, scooting over on the rock to make space. “The day is young!” “Oh, thank you but, no,” the ant replied. “I’m working. I need to find food.” “I have some,” the grasshopper said. He picked up a bit of fruit and offered it to the ant. “Thank you,” the ant said, as she took the piece of fruit. “But I still need to get going. I have a lot of food to gather. My colony is storing up for the winter.” A worried look flashed over the grasshopper’s face for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s a good point.” Suddenly, his face lit up. “Oh! I know where there’s a bunch of fruit. It’s not very far from here. I can show you.” “That would be great, thank you.” The grasshopper led the ant over some rocks, and through some grass. Eventually, they came to a great berry bush. Animals had obviously been eating the ripe berries off the bush. Several had been knocked off and dropped to the ground. It was the perfect spot to gather food. “This is great,” the ant exclaimed. She grabbed what she could carry and marked the spot. “I’m going to go get my sisters.” “I’ll be here,” the grasshopper said. He started to play his music again. His face was twisted in concentration. “I’m just having trouble getting this middle part.” The ant could hear what he meant. The beginning and the end of his song were crisp. The middle was a little flat. “Good luck,” the ant said. “I’ll be back soon.” The grasshopper did not respond. He was so focused on his song that he hadn’t heard her. He was still there practicing when the ant returned with her sisters. They grabbed all the fruit they could carry, while the grasshopper played sweet music. Even with the flat middle part, the song was lovely. All the ants enjoyed listening to it as they worked. When they were done, the ant went up to the grasshopper. “Thanks again,” she said. “What?” the grasshopper asked, confused. “Thanks for showing us the food.” “Food?” The grasshopper squinted his eyes. Suddenly, he remembered. “Oh yeah, food! We need to get some for winter. I know where there’s some.” “I know,” the ant laughed. “We’re here.” The grasshopper looked at the dirt under the bushes. “Oh nuts,” he said. “I could have sworn there were berries here.” “There were,” the ant laughed. “We gathered them.” The ant handed the grasshopper the berry she was holding. “Here you go. Thanks again. I hope you figure out the middle of your song!” “Me too,” the grasshopper laughed, and took a bite out of the berry. “Don’t forget to store up for the winter!” “I won’t!” The two waved goodbye and went their separate ways. Time marched on, as is the nature of time. Summer became fall. The fruit shriveled up. The lush green leaves turned a dull brown and fell to the floor. Then fall became winter. Cold winds blew and a thin layer of snow covered the woods. The ant and her family stayed warm and well fed in their colony underground. The ants were inspired by the grasshopper. They did not have wing casings to rub against, but they did have six strong legs. They found that if they stomped on or hit different things they could make a variety of interesting noises. The colony spent much of the winter laughing, dancing, and drumming. As is the nature of music, the time spent listening to it went by a little quicker. The heavy loads they lifted felt a little lighter. The cold dark of winter became a little brighter. The ant still liked to go exploring in the woods. There was no need to look for food. She just liked knowing what was out there. On one particularly cold winter day, she was out admiring a shimmering patch of ice, when she noticed the grasshopper limping by in the distance. “Hello,” she said brightly. She ran over to him. Her face dropped when she saw him. His exoskeleton (which is the outer part of a grasshopper) was discolored and thin. “Are you okay?” the ant asked. “Hungry,” the grasshopper said weakly. “Wait right here,” the ant said. “I’ll be back.” She raced home as fast as she could. She would have brought the grasshopper with her, but she knew the soldiers would never let a non-family member into the colony. She grabbed as much food as she could carry and headed back out. “What are you doing,” one of her sisters asked. “Do you remember that grasshopper that showed us those berries?” “Yeah.” “He needs help. He’s starving.” “Pft,” her sister said dismissively. “He should have spent more time working and less time playing. We saw him plenty of times last summer. All he did was play music. He should have been working to gather food.” “Sure, you’re right,” the ant replied, “but he still needs help now.” “Eh, let him die. It’s his own fault.” The ant was horrified by her sister’s response. She was about to argue when she remembered her friend was waiting for her. She rushed past and brought the food to the grasshopper. “This is all I could carry,” she said. Luckily ants can carry an amazing amount for their size. “Thank you,” the grasshopper said weakly. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get any more.” “It’s okay. This helps a lot.” The grasshopper looked at her with dull eyes. “What happened,” the ant asked. “How did you run out of food?” “I lost track of time,” the grasshopper said sadly. “You didn’t notice when fall was here?” “I noticed,” the grasshopper said, starting to get a little frantic. “Every day, I got up and told myself, ‘Self, you need to get food,’ but then something would happen. I would run into someone and we’d get talking, or I’d find something that needed cleaning, or fixing, and I’d start working on that, then I’d hear something that would make me think of the song I was working on and I’d pause to try it out for a moment, and before I new it, it was winter, and the food was gone.” The grasshopper grunted in frustration, then he continued. “The same thing happened last year,” he said flatly. “And the year before. The other grasshoppers used to give me food. But now, they just call me selfish and lazy.” “You’re not selfish,” the ant said softly. “The food I brought is part of the food you found and gave to us. And you’re not lazy. I know how much work you put into your music. You are just terrible at time management.” “Oh is that all,” the grasshopper sneered. “I’ll make you a deal. When spring starts, meet me here.” The grasshopper gave the ant a strange look. “You want me, the guy with the time management problem, to remember to meet you here, in what? One month? Two months?” “Six weeks.” The grasshopper just stared. “Point taken,” the ant replied. “When spring starts, I’ll find you. More of the colony will be out and about when the weather gets warmer, but we will still have some time before we need to start gathering. You can help us with our drumming.” “Drumming?” “Yeah, a lot of my sisters have started drumming. And we could use your help putting it all together.” “Composing?” “What’s composing?” “Putting it all together.” “Yes,” the ant laughed. “That. And then, when it gets closer to summer, I’ll help you.” “You’ll get food for me?” “No. But I’ll go with you and make sure you set aside a part of what we find together, for next winter.” “That would be nice.” “Are you sure you’ll be okay until spring?” The grasshopper sprang into the air with sudden energy. “I’ll be just fine.” He gathered up the food the ant brought him and hopped away, playing a little tune. Six weeks passed, and the weather became warmer. The snow began to melt, as is the nature of snow. The ant found the grasshopper. His exoskeleton was still a bit thin, but there was a light in his eyes. Several ants joined them, as they worked. The grasshopper composed several songs for them to practice and play. Some were just for the ants. Some were for the ants and him together. Over time, a few other grasshoppers, and even a couple of flies joined. When summer came, the ant and the grasshopper headed out into the woods together. The ant was skilled at checking every nook and cranny. She didn’t miss any detail. The grasshopper was good at jumping high onto a rock or branch, and seeing a large area. Yes, the ant needed to remind the grasshopper to stay on task quite often. But together, they found more food than they would have on their own, and had much more fun doing it, as is the nature of friendship. This has been the Ant and the Grasshopper, adapted from Aesop’s fable and read by Ryan Aoto. This has been a Library Call Recording.