The Ant and the Grasshopper (by Maugham)
By W. Somerset Maugham
When I was a very small boy I was made to learn by heart certain of the fables of La Fontaine, and the moral of each was carefully explained to me. Among those I learnt was The Ant and the Grasshopper, which is devised to bring home to the young the useful lesson that in an imperfect world industry is rewarded and giddiness punished. In this admirable fable (I apologize for telling something which everyone is politely, but inexactly, supposed to know) the ant spends a laborious summer gathering its winter store, while the grasshopper sits on a blade of grass singing to the sun. Winter comes and the ant is comfortably provided for, but the grasshopper has an empty larder: he goes to the ant and begs for a little food. Then the ant gives him her classic answer:
‘What were you doing the summer time?’
‘Saving your presense, I sang, I sang all day, all night.’
‘You sang. Why, then go and dance.’
Well, this is not the whole story W. Somerset Maugham wrote. The ending of it is fairly surprising. Let’s say that the “grasshopper” in that story sang and danced and was rewarded, but the industrious “ant” was not anywhere near. Life is just like that.
I’d like to take the advice literally. Go and dance. The question remains how and where. Find the inspiration, the energy, the motivation and the willpower that the drugs take away from me. Go and dance.
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Posted on August 17th, 2009 under Art of Reframing, Literature • Tags: ant and grasshopper, crime and punishment. •
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August 19th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Yeah, let’s both go and dance. I need to find some inspiration myself. It’s tough right now with the economy and what not. I gotta just keep busy and sometimes find the energy to go and dance. Cool story.