Strange Arts & Visual Delights
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![]() Illustration by Milo White (1888 - 1956), an American illustrator. In the public domain. He has made the ants plural--a collective, rather than a single individual. La Fontaine is one of my favorite French authors. I have tried at various times, unsuccessfully, to translate several of his fables. To create this version, I borrowed shamelessly from previous versions.
The Grasshopper and the Ant by Jean de la Fontaine The Grasshopper kept fiddling As summer light was dwindling. When the North Wind blew, She hadn’t a scrap to chew, Not a bite of grub, no fly To bake into a pie. So she went complaining, To the Ant, of famine, And begged a cup of grain To keep flesh on her bone Till harvest home. “When the crop comes in, I’ll pay you back,” she claimed, “On my word as animal, Interest and principal.” The Ant was not a lender—that Was her smallest fault. “So what Did you do all summer?” She asked the Grasshopper. “Night and day, for every comer I fiddled without stopping. That’s why I love grasshopping.” “You fiddled? I don’t give a fig. Now you can dance a jig.” Posted 2 July 2024. Please send comments to [email protected]
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