The Ant and the Grasshopper

From a wise emmet, well sustain’d

On what her industry had gain’d,

A grasshopper some aid desir’d.

“What was his trade?” the ant inquir’d.

“I’ve none,” the grasshopper replied;

“I range the country far and wide,

Singing all day from door to door,

And have no time to form a store.”

Shutting her granaries, says the ant,

“No wonder, friend, you are in want;

He who all summer sings, may chance

In winter to be forc’d to dance.”

To spend his time in idle song,

The thoughtless grasshopper was wrong;

And not to give a small supply,

The emmet mean and niggardly.