Oh my I just read the fable of the ant and the grasshopper

[Greebo]

It's the Net vs. the copy we read last Friday at Barnes and Noble I guess..

[Greebo]

Though I'll tell you what I find wrong with the bee version - it eliminates justice from the equation.

Justice means making sure that one gets what one deserves.

The Grasshopper, who has produced nothing and shows no true remorse (in the Aesop version at least), DESERVES the fate of death for his failure to think and live long term.

I'm not saying there's no room for Mercy - but the Bee's approach chastises the ant for being Just, and Justice thus dictates that the Bee will end up deserving what he gets - eaten out of house and home by those whom he helps indiscriminately.

[imagine]

It's the Net vs. the copy we read last Friday at Barnes and Noble I guess..

I would go with your version. But are you sure it was true Aesop Fables not altered by time?

You very rarely ever see the true Cinderella story in books at the book store.

[Ceashels]

I think it may have been. The response to the Grasshopper was to "dance all winter" and that's what I remember hearing from an old book of Aesop's Fables growing up.

[imagine]

I think it may have been. The response to the Grasshopper was to "dance all winter" and that's what I remember hearing from an old book of Aesop's Fables growing up.

Thanks!

If it was truly the original then the moral was more kind and sense able then the way most people remember it. Turning the Ant out to die.

It still bothers me that people like that ending.

[imagine]

Though I'll tell you what I find wrong with the bee version - it eliminates justice from the equation.

Justice means making sure that one gets what one deserves.

The Grasshopper, who has produced nothing and shows no true remorse (in the Aesop version at least), DESERVES the fate of death for his failure to think and live long term.

I'm not saying there's no room for Mercy - but the Bee's approach chastises the ant for being Just, and Justice thus dictates that the Bee will end up deserving what he gets - eaten out of house and home by those whom he helps indiscriminately.

The Ant seemed to have a since of entitlement from the Bee.



The interesting thing about moral stories is you have to take the audience into consideration.

The moral would be different if you were talking/teaching a grasshopper than if you were teaching an ant. Different if you were teaching a cold hearted ant than if you were teaching a soft hearted ant. Different if you were teaching a bee. They each had different lessons to learn. Is there a way you combine the stories so each learns their lessons?

Did Disney do that when they made their version of the Ant and the Grasshopper in the 1930's. The Ant eventually takes pity on the grasshopper and lets him in with conditions. He required to work, sing and dance, all winter for his supper.
The moral Disney gave is we all must work for what we have/get

The story ends with the grasshopper singing
" Oh I owe the world a living....
You ants were right the time you said
You've got to work for all you get."

[acidcookie]

Being from a German family, I certainly know the "less fortunate" but original endings to most fairytales! When I moved to the US I learned all the nice ones and was amazed how wrong they got it

[imagine]

Being from a German family, I certainly know the "less fortunate" but original endings to most fairytales! When I moved to the US I learned all the nice ones and was amazed how wrong they got it

Isn't amazing how culture changes things?

Add to that time and changes in language. No wonder no one seems to know the true ending to the ant and the grasshopper actually is.

Were Aseope's fables originally written down or were they oral tradition?