The Grasshopper and the Ants

In a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. A group of ants walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of corn. "Where are you going with those heavy things?" asked the grasshopper. Without stopping, the first ant replied, "To our ant hill. This is the third kernel I've delivered today." "Why not come and sing with me," teased the grasshopper, "instead of working so hard?"

"We are helping to store food for the winter," said the ant, "and think you should do the same." "Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play," sang the grasshopper. But the ants went on their way and continued their hard work. The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger. He staggered to the ants' hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer. He begged them for something to eat. "What!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?" "I didn't have time to store any food," complained the grasshopper; "I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone." The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work. Don't forget -- there is a time for work and a time for play!

EL SALTAMONTES Y LAS HORMIGAS En los das de un campo de un verano un saltamontes saltaba alrededor, cantando y cantando a su contenido corazones. Un grupo de hormigas andaban por ah, gruendo mientras luchaban por llevar granos gordos de maz. "A dnde vas con esas cosas pesadas?" -pregunt el saltamontes. Sin detenerse, la primera hormiga respondi: "A nuestro hormiguero. Este es el ncleo tercera que he entregado hoy". "Por qu no venir a cantar conmigo", brome el saltamontes ", en lugar de trabajar tan duro?" "Estamos ayudando a almacenar alimentos para el invierno", dijo la hormiga ", y creo que deberas hacer lo mismo." "El invierno est muy lejos y es un da glorioso para jugar", cant el saltamontes. Pero las hormigas siguieron su camino y continu su trabajo duro. El tiempo pronto se puso fro. Toda la comida que miente en el campo estaba cubierto por una gruesa capa blanca de nieve que incluso el saltamontes no poda cavar a travs. Pronto el saltamontes se vio muriendo de hambre. Se tambale a la colina de las hormigas y los vio repartiendo maz de los almacenes que haban recogido en el verano. l les pidi algo de comer.

"Qu?" -grit a las hormigas en sorpresa, "No te he guardado algo para el invierno? Qu diablos estabas haciendo todo el verano pasado?" "Yo no tena tiempo para almacenar todos los alimentos", se quej el saltamontes: "Yo estaba tan ocupado tocando msica que antes de que me diera cuenta del verano se haba ido." Las hormigas sacudi la cabeza con disgusto, dieron la espalda a la cigarra y sigui con su trabajo. No se olvide - hay un tiempo para trabajar y un tiempo para jugar! The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf A Shepherd Boy tended his master's sheep near a dark forest not far from the village. Soon he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse himself was to talk to his dog or play on his shepherd's pipe. One day as he sat watching the sheep and the quiet forest, and thinking what he would do should he see a wolf, he thought of a plan to amuse himself. His master had told him to call for help should a wolf attack the flock, and the villagers would drive it away. So now, though he had not seen anything that even looked like a wolf, he ran toward the village shouting at the top of his voice, "Wolf! Wolf!" As he expected, the villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran in great excitement to the pasture. But when they got there they found the boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them.

A few days later the Shepherd Boy again shouted, "Wolf! Wolf!" Again the villagers ran to help him, only to be laughed at again. Then one evening as the sun was setting behind the forest and the shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a Wolf really did spring from the underbrush and fall upon the Sheep. In terror the boy ran toward the village shouting "Wolf! Wolf!" But though the villagers heard the cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. "He cannot fool us again," they said. The wolf killed a great many of the boy's sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth.
El muchacho del pastor y el lobo Un muchacho del pastor cuidaba ovejas de su amo cerca de un bosque oscuro, no lejos de la aldea. Pronto se encontr con la vida en el pasto muy aburrido. Todo lo que poda hacer para divertirse era hablar con su perro o jugar en su tubo de pastor. Un da, mientras estaba sentado mirando a las ovejas y el bosque silencioso, y pensando en lo que hara en caso de que ver un lobo, se le ocurri un plan para divertirse. Su amo le haba dicho a pedir ayuda en caso de un lobo ataca al rebao, y los aldeanos de llevrselo. As que ahora, si no hubiera visto nada que se pareca a un lobo, corri hacia la aldea gritando a voz en cuello: "Lobo! Lobo!" Como esperaba, los aldeanos que haban escuchado el grito baj su trabajo y corrieron con gran excitacin a la pastura. Pero

cuando llegaron encontraron al muchacho de risa en el truco que haba jugado con ellos. Unos das ms tarde, el nio pastor otra vez grit: "Lobo! Lobo!" Otra vez los aldeanos corrieron a ayudarlo, slo que se ran de nuevo. Entonces, una tarde cuando el sol se pona tras el bosque y las sombras se arrastra a lo largo de la pradera, un lobo realmente surgi de la maleza y la cada en la oveja. En el terror, el muchacho corri hacia la aldea gritando "Lobo! Lobo!" Pero aunque los aldeanos oyeron el grito, que no corri a ayudarle como lo haban hecho antes. "l no nos puede engaar otra vez", dijeron. El lobo mat a un gran nmero de ovejas del chico y luego se alej hacia el bosque. Los mentirosos no se cree incluso cuando dicen la verdad. The Cock and the Pearl A cock was once strutting up and down the farmyard among the hens when suddenly heespied something shinning amid the straw. "Ho! ho!" quoth he, "that's for me," and soon rooted it out from beneath the straw. What did it turn out to be but a Pearl that by some chance had been lost in the yard? "You may be a treasure," quoth Master Cock, "to men that prize you, but for me I would rather have a single barley-corn than a peck of pearls."

Precious things are for those that can prize them. El gallo y la perla Un gallo que una vez fue pavonendose arriba y abajo del corral entre las gallinas cuando de repente algo brillando en medio de heespied la paja. "Ho! Ho!" dijo l, "eso es para m", y luego arrancada de debajo de la paja. Qu es lo que resulta ser una perla, pero que por alguna casualidad se haba perdido en el patio? "Usted puede ser un tesoro", quoth llave de paso general, "a los hombres que le premio, pero para m prefiero tener una sola cebada y maz de un beso de perlas". Cosas preciosas son para aquellos que les premio.