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

[imagine]

I just read the fable of the ant and the grasshopper and it has my tender heart saddened.

The ant turns the grasshopper away to die.

This is so not the way I remember the fable.

I grew up with a father who was an ant and taught us to be ants. This is how I remember the fable.

The ant worked the grasshopper played and didn't listen or heed advice. At the end the grasshopper shows up on the ant's door and repents (lesson learned) and the ant shares.

moral of the story was/is work hard ( prepare for yourself and others) and be merciful.

[warramra]

Original fables and fairy tales are often quite gruesome and very different in endings than our modern day renditions. When they were originally written life was much harsher and death was common in people's lives. Most fables & fairy tales were also written for adult audiences. Those stories reflect that. Andrew Lang produced a series of Fairy Books in the early 20th century with tales from around the world and not sanitized for children. It is an interesting window into our historical culture.

[imagine]

I asked both of my children to tell me the story of the ant and the grasshopper. They both told me different endings. LOL

I put in a text to hubby to see what ending he knows.

[HappyMama]

I posted on one of the survival threads earlier about the "Ant and The Grasshopper" , ringing through me head lol.... So glad you read the fable. It is such a good moral story and lesson.

[MsMarieH]

I remember reading both versions.

The thing is, from a moral standpoint, there's also that thought of "how are you supposed to teach your little grasshopper to prepare for the future/rainy day" if they think there will always be some ant around to sponge off of?"

So I can understand both endings having merits.

Amen to warramra's comment though. I've read some of the original Grimm's fairy tales and they were GRUESOME! In one of the cinderella versions one stepsisters cut off her toes to try to get the shoe fit and the other cut off her heel... All righty then...

[imagine]

I posted on one of the survival threads earlier about the "Ant and The Grasshopper" , ringing through me head lol.... So glad you read the fable. It is such a good moral story and lesson.

I saw it on that thread and that is why I went to read it.

I was just shocked to see the story so different then I remembered it.

If the original story is the common one then it scares me that people use the fable as justification for preparing.

Grasshopper deserving his punishment. Ant justifiable in doling out the punishment

It has no mercy. There is no love. There is no caring.
Is this the heart of mankind? I hope it isn't

[imagine]

Hubby knew of the grasshopper dies ending. He thought that it needed that ending. He and I are so different we fit together prefectly. Balance each other.

[Keildra]

I think I've heard both endings, but I understand the need for both endings. one ending teaches that there won't always be a handout while the other teaches to prepare and be kind to those in need. (don't hoard at the expense of others)

[thefrug]

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER

Two Different Versions ........... Two Different Morals

OLD VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away..

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.

The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be responsible for yourself!



MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2012.


There! Would you prefer this ending? geesh. It's all about taking resposibility for yourself and not expecting others to do it for you!

Personal Responsibility. Get it. Use it!

[mamachop]

thefrug, all that I can say to your post is "WOW" and I love it!

[Greebo]

In the Aesop version, the Grasshopper tells the Ant that he could not collect food in the summer because he was too busy singing. There was no repentance. The Ant tells the Grasshopper that in the winter, he should dance.

The moral is don't reward foolishness or enable bad behavior. Being merciful is fine if someone truly repents - but enable the Grasshopper's foolishness and you'll have so many grasshoppers no army of ants can feed them.

[Ceashels]

That just made my day! Thank you TheFrug.

[imagine]

MODERN VERSION

The ant works hard in the withering heat and the rain all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while he is cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast.

How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green...'

ACORN stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Then Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

President Obama condemns the ant and blames President Bush, President Reagan, Christopher Columbus, and the Pope for the grasshopper's plight.

Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government Green Czar and given to the grasshopper.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper and his free-loading friends finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which, as you recall, just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around them because the grasshopper doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow, never to be seen again.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident, and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the ramshackle, once prosperous and once peaceful, neighborhood.

The entire Nation collapses bringing the rest of the free world with it.

MORAL OF THE STORY:
Be careful how you vote in 2012.


There! Would you prefer this ending? geesh. It's all about taking resposibility for yourself and not expecting others to do it for you!

Personal Responsibility. Get it. Use it!

I have read similar versions Thanks for sharing

[Dancing Lotus]

Funny this should pop up today, my daughter was talking about this with me last night. As I tucked her in she said " Mom, I wrote a story. It's about an Ant and a Hedgehog. It's just like the story about the Ant and Grasshopper only it has a nicer ending. The Ant shares his food with the Hedgehog." I JUST LOVE THAT KID.

[imagine]

In the Aesop version, the Grasshopper tells the Ant that he could not collect food in the summer because he was too busy singing. There was no repentance. The Ant tells the Grasshopper that in the winter, he should dance.

The moral is don't reward foolishness or enable bad behavior. Being merciful is fine if someone truly repents - but enable the Grasshopper's foolishness and you'll have so many grasshoppers no army of ants can feed them.

The version that you say is Aesop is similar to the one I learned. The net said that is not the true Aesop version. The ant is turned away to die in the original version.

The version you remember is more balanced.

There was a Catholic response from the early 1800 to the Ant and the Grasshopper ( because the ant turned away the grasshopper) called the Bee and the Ant.

In this story, the Ant loses his stockpile. He goes to the Bee to ask for help. The Bee throws the Ant's words to the Grasshopper back at him, leading the Ant to believe he will be turned away. The Bee the reveals that he has already invited the Grasshopper in and then invited the Ant in too. The lesson "'All who are suffering/Deserve help equally."