A grasshopper and an ant decided to be friends for always. This was very difficult, for they were so different; but they said they would be like brothers.
They went off together, but differences arose at once. When they reached a stream, the grasshopper hopped across, but the ant fell into the water and was carried away by the current.
“Hold on to something!” shouted the grasshopper, “I’ll find something to get you out!” He looked around for a way to save his friend and found a sow (a female pig) near by.
He asked the sow for her bristles to save the ant, but she was hungry. She asked him to fetch her acorns to eat. He begged the oak tree for acorns, but the oak was troubled by a jay. “Keep him off,” said the oak, “and then take acorns without any difficulty.”
The jay was harassed by a kite, so off went the grass-hopper to request the kite to leave the jay alone. The kite was hungry and wanted to eat a chicken, but the chickens wanted millets from the barn.
The barn was fed up of the mice that gnawed at it all day and night. So, the grasshopper asked the mice to stop troubling the barn. “What can we do?” said the mice, “We need to hide from that wretched cat!”
The cat said she would stop, if she got some milk instead. So, the grasshopper asked the cow for some milk, but she said she needed fresh grass. The earth was generous. She gave grass to the cow.
Back went the grasshopper to each with his request fulfilled. Finally, the sow gave him her bristles and he ran to the stream to fish out the ant. But the poor ant was dead. The grasshopper’s help was too late to save the ant!
