It was the time of the year when winter was approaching and the beautiful season of autumn was coming to an end. All the animals and insects were working extremely hard to gather food and store it for the winters. They knew that in the winters, it would get dark very soon and it would also be too cold to go out and get food.
So, everyone in the forest was working very hard, except for Mr Grasshopper. He was very fond of autumn—it was his favourite season. Throughout the year, he waited for autumn to come, so he wanted to enjoy it to the fullest. The trees looked extremely pretty, filled with orange, yellow and red leaves. With the pleasant breeze, the leaves fell from the trees and covered the ground, creating a beautiful sight.
All day long, Mr Grasshopper spent his time playing and singing, jumping from one fallen leaf to another. He loved the way the leaves wavered when he landed on them and the way they bounced, when he jumped from them. “Life is exciting and beautiful, I want to have fun and play forever,” sang Mr Grasshopper, as he hopped from one tree to another.
Just then, Miss Ant was passing by, carrying a huge grain of rice all by herself. She was tired and stopped for a while. “Oh God, this is so heavy, I should have asked my brother to help me with this,” muttered Miss Ant. Mr Grasshopper heard Miss Ant complaining and said, “Do you need any help with the rice?”
“Yes certainly, will you help me carry this? It is very heavy and my ant hill is still a few trees away,” said the ant. “Nah, first you have to come and play with me and then I will help you with this,” said Mr Grasshopper. “Why are you working so hard anyway? Autumn is a beautiful season and you should enjoy it now,” the grasshopper said.
Miss Ant was concerned and replied, “Mr Grasshopper, you should start collecting food for the winters from now on. Very soon it will be very cold. You will not be able to go out and there will be no food to eat.”
“Never mind, I will go out anyway and find food when I am hungry. This is the time to enjoy, and have fun. It’s party time!” said the silly grasshopper. Miss Ant shook her head, picked up the grain of rice and went on.
Finally, winter arrived and it was very cold. The ants did not dare to come out. However, they had sufficient food to eat and thus were happy and kept themselves warm. Mr Grasshopper on the other hand was cold and hungry. As he did not store any food for the winter, he had to go out in the biting cold, and hardly managed to get any food. He soon became very hungry and weak.
Mr Grasshopper realized his mistake. “I wish I had listened to the ant. At least I would have had some food to eat now,” said Mr Grasshopper sadly, and went out to search for food.
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