The Grass Hopper and the Ant

Many years ago, there lived a Grass hopper in a meadow filled with sweet grass.  The locust had reached there by chance.  A few weeks earlier, a fierce storm had blown across the forest.  Many small insects were dislodged from their places on the trees and were helplessly carried by the wind.  When the wind subsided, they found themselves in very different locations at considerable distances.

The locust was one of these insects.  The locust spent the next few days gorging on the soft grass.  He was very happy.  He had fallen on the right place.  He no longer had to fly large distances and hop from tree to tree in search of good.  Here was food, ready and tasty and he had fallen right on top of it.  Every day, he would do nothing else than eat sumptuously and sleep for many hours.  He did not think of the future.  Today was heaven and he would enjoy it to the utmost.

The grass hopper spent his days lazing in the meadow.  Near the meadow was an anthill.  The anthill was home to hundreds of ants. The ants spent their day at a hectic pace. They would frenetically move from one place to another constantly doing something.  Some of the ants would scour out to find food, while others would carry loads of food many times their own weight on their back.  Still some others would be busy cleaning the anthill and removing dirt and waste.    The ants were never at rest.  The whole anthill was the scene of eternal action.

The Grass Hopper looked at the ants with disdain.  “Crazy Creatures”, he thought, “Why don’t they learn to take life easy and enjoy it?”  The Grass hopper did not think about the future at all.  He believed in living each day as it comes.  Besides, he was also lazy.

Chintu was an ant in the colony in the anthill.  He observed the grass hopper for many days.
The grasshopper went about his day routine of eating and sleeping.   The ant, Chintu went up to the grasshopper one day. He said, "Brother Grasshopper, I have been observing you for many days. You seep to be enjoying life. I am happy to see you in such a jolly and carefree mood."

The grasshopper was pleased at what the ant said. ''At least, somebody appreciates my philosophy of life", he thought.  The ant then said," It is good to enjoy life. But it is also necessary to plan for the future. The grasshopper gave a puzzled look.  The good ant continued, “A few months from now the weather will change. The temperature will fall."  "The forest which is so vivid with the colours of spring will be covered with the somber shades of winter.  The ground will be covered with Snow. There will be no food."  The grasshopper looked worried. He had never thought about these things.
The ant then said, "We, ants work hard during the months of plenty so that we can store food for the winter months.  You, too, should do the same so that you will have food in the winter."

The grasshopper felt very bad on hearing this.  He had never thought about winter and food.   "I will work hard from tomorrow”, he told himself.   The next day, the grasshopper woke late in the morning.  He stretched himself.  He thought about the resolution he had made yesterday to work hard.  But he was too overcome by sloth.  “I will work hard from tomorrow onwards”, he told himself.    He nibbled on a few new leaves and went back to rest.

The ants meanwhile slogged through the days of spring and summer.  Autumn came and then winter.  It began to snow.  The grasshopper had till then managed to live on the few plants that remained in the ground.  But with winter coming in full form, the little vegetation that remained wilted away.  The grasshopper did not have anything to eat.  The ground was frozen.  The wind blew cold and hard.  All the other animals had gone to hibernation in their burrows.  The ants which had worked hard during the summer months had gone underground.  There they kept close together to keep warm.  They also had their reserves of food they had worked so hard to gather.

The grass hopper now realized his mistake.  He cursed himself for being lazy.  How he wished he had listened to the ant’s advice.  But now it was too late.  It became colder and colder as the winter days progressed.  The grass hopper could not find anything to eat.   In a few days, the grass hopper was dead.

Children, this story tells us to work hard. We need to plan for the future, no matter how comfortable we may be today.  Times keep changing and we need to prepare and save for adverse times.

The Ant and the Pigeon

Once upon a time there was a forest.  The forest was huge with big trees.  The wide branches of the trees spread far out.  They were home to a large number of birds.  The birds built their nests and raised their young in the trees.  The birds loved to perch on the branches as they looked at the forest below.  Pigeons were among the birds which lived in the trees.    The Pigeons would fly across the forest searching for grains.   They would return to feed their young ones.  They lived together in a big tree in the middle of the forest.

Just beside the tree flowed a river.  The branches of the tree extended over the river.  The river was broad and the water flowed swiftly.    Below on the forest floor lived small and tiny creatures such as insects and lizards. A colony of ants lived at the foot of the tree.  The ants were busy all day scouting for food and cleaning up their home.   Life was peaceful in the forest.

This peace was disturbed one day as a group of hunters entered the forest with hopes of hunting some birds and animals.  The hunters dispersed across the forest in small groups and set up their snares and took up positions from where they could hunt the animals.  

One of the hunters came near the tree where the pigeon’s lived.  He looked up at the tree.  He saw pigeons perched on its branches.  He was happy.  He chose to target one pigeon.  The pigeon looked healthy and plump.  Surely, it would provide him with good meat or so he thought.  He took the bow from his shoulder.  He picked an arrow from his quiver – the pouch where a hunter keeps his arrows.  He, then, put the arrow in the bow and drew the string.  He aimed at the bird carefully.

All the while, a little ant was watching the hunter from the anthill.  It felt sorry for the pigeon which would die soon.   It wanted to do something to prevent this.  But what could a little ant do against a strong hunter.  

The ant moved close to the hunter.  It came right behind his feet and climbed on to it.  Then just as the hunter was about to release the arrow, it gave a painful sting to the hunter.  The hunter yelped in pain.  The ant jumped off the hunter and ran away quickly.  The hunter could easily crush the ant.  It scurried back to the anthill.    

As the hunter yelped in pain, he lost his aim. The arrow flew harmlessly away from the bird and hit the tree.  The pigeon was saved.   He looked at the commotion below.   The pigeon was shocked and thankful that he had escaped death so narrowly.  He thanked the ant for its bravery.  

The hunters soon left the forest.  The hunt had not been successful as they expected.  The snares turned out to be empty.  The animals of the forest were too smart for them.  

A few months later the rains began.  The rains poured through the trees.  The drops of the rain fell around the anthill.  The ants scurried inside their home.  The anthill was slightly higher than the forest floor.  

The water could not enter easily.  However, one of the ants had got left behind.  He had gone out to search for food when the rain had started.  As he scampered along the forest floor, the big drops of rain fell around him.  He was terrified. He walked faster. Puddles of water were forming on the forest floor due to the rain.  Small streams began to flow from the puddles in the forest floor and into the river.  The ant struggled to cross these small streams.    While it was crossing one such stream the ant got swept away.  It struggled to get out of the stream.  But the current was strong.  Soon the stream merged with the river.  The ant was in a more dangerous condition.  The river was swift and swollen.  The ant struggled to stay afloat.  It knew that it was growing tired.  It would be only some time before it drowned.  

From the branches, the pigeon was looking below at the river.  It looked at the water which was flowing fast and strong.  Suddenly, its eye caught a small insect struggling in the water.  It looked closely.  It was the ant which had saved its life.  The pigeon felt sorry for the ant.  He knew that it was going to die.  The pigeon quickly plucked a leaf and, swooping low over the river near where the ant was struggling, put it near where the ant was struggling.  The ant managed to seize the leaf and climbed on to it.  At least, now it would not sink.  But it was still not out of danger.  The leaf was shaking wildly as the river carried it along.  

The leaf travelled for a while along the river and finally came to rest on a rock by the river bank.  .  The ant was relieved.  It quickly got out of the leaf and scurried to safety on the river bank.  The pigeon was following its every move.  But the ant had got far away from its ant-hill.  The pigeon dropped another leaf beside the ant and asked it to get on to it.  The pigeon then carried the leaf with the ant over the forest and the tall trees and placed the leaf near the ant hill.  The ant was delighted and thanked its friend.  The pigeon had returned the help of the ant.  The forest was peaceful once more.  The ant and the pigeon remained friends for the rest of their lives.  

Children, this is a story that tells the value of being helpful to everyone.  We need to help our friends and others whenever we see them in trouble.  If we help others, others will help us in our time of need.