There once lived an ant in a home which he built in a pleasant meadow. Near his home lived a grasshopper who had no home and who played and frolicked in the warm sun while the ant worked hard all summer to stock up his home with food. The ant worked hard because it was in his nature to do so in order to ensure the survival of his family. The grasshopper couldn’t care less about his family and saw no need to work when food was plentiful and the days were long and pleasant.
One day, the weather turned cold and it began to snow. The little ant went inside his home and shut his door to prepare for winter. Soon there was a knock on his door. The ant answered and it was the grasshopper shivering and hungry. “Hey meadow neighbor.” he said “Could you spare some food for your fellow insect who is hungry?”. The ant took pity and said okay and gave the grasshopper some food and he was soon on his way.
The next day, there was another knock on the ant’s door. When he opened it, there was the same grasshopper with two other grasshoppers at the door. “It seems as if you are rich with food” said the grasshoppers, “Its only fair that you share with us since you have so much”. The ant felt sorry for the grasshoppers and gave them some more food from his stores.
The very next day, again there was a knock on the door and the ant was surprised to see dozens of grasshoppers standing before his door. The grasshopper said this time “Look at all these starving residents of the meadow, you must feed us for it is your moral duty. The only reason you have so much food is because you took unfair advantage of the meadow and you caused our suffering”. The ant replied “I want to help but I don’t have enough to feed everyone”. The grasshopper replied, “Then you are a greedy racist and you hate us grasshoppers” screeched the grasshopper, then in a threatening tone “We grasshoppers took a democratic vote and decided you must give us the food”. Being faced with such a force, the ant gave in and gave up more of his hard-earned food to the grasshoppers.
Again, the next day the grasshoppers showed up the ant home and expecting to be given more food only to find the ant home empty. A sign at the door read “I have no food left for you have taken it all. My family and I have moved away with what remains so we can start over and live in peace and safety”. A few days later, all the grasshoppers had starved to death leaving a barren meadow devoid of any insect life.
One day some other insects pass by the barren meadow, shook their heads and gave it the nickname “Detroit”.
Based on Aesop’s Fables.
A brilliant fable! Thank you!
A good retelling, but I fear the grasshoppers among us will never get it.