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The Ant and the Grasshopper - The Fable Retold

from Songs for interesting times by Camilla Cancantata

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lyrics

The Ant and the Grasshopper - The Fable Retold

Grasshopper sang in the fields all day
Everybody loved to hear her play
She sang with the sun, she sang with the moon
But the summer ended far too soon
Then the days grew shorter and the nights got colder
And Grasshopper started to feel pangs of hunger.

Ant worked away the summer long
Didn't have time to sing any songs
Biting anyone in her way
Certainly didn't have time to play
But when the nights got colder and the days grew shorter
Ant would be able to feed her daughter.

'Ant, could you spare me a bite to eat?
I'm feeling rather thin and weak
I'm losing my will and strength to play
Finding it hard to get through the day
The nights are long and it's getting colder
And this poor grasshopper's feeling older.'

'What have you been doing the summer long?
Wasting time, singing your song
Your life is not at all constructive
You certainly havn't been productive
You're an idle scrounger, you deserve to die
I'm not going to share my food supply!'

'Nobody likes you because you bite
And you don't sing under the moon at night
You're prepared to steal other creatures' food
And claim you're working for the common good
When the nights get warm and the days grow long
Then you will certainly miss my song!'

Ant turned away with a hardened heart
She had targets to meet, and problems with staff
She could see Grasshopper fading away
On a chilly winter's day
But when the summer came back
And the days grew long
Faintly she could hear a familiar song.

What's the point in working all day
And never having time to play
If we won't share what we have with others
Treat the whole world as our neighbours?
We'll re-write the story, so we'll all be free
Living in peace and harmony
I've always hated this particular one of Aesop's fables since I first heard it as a child. It's so unfair!

credits

from Songs for interesting times, released April 4, 2012
All songs written and performed by camilla
cancantata

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Camilla Cancantata Knighton, UK

Camilla Cancantata, composer and improviser, and founding member of Footloose, a community arts group.

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