The Ant and the Cricket

AP/ NCERT Solutions Grade 8 Honeydew 
Poem 1 The Ant and the Cricket

Working with the poem (Page 23)

1. The cricket says, “Oh! what will become of me?” When does he say it, and why?

The cricket said these words when she discovered nothing to eat in winter. It thought as it was getting cold, it would be difficult to gather food and water and die of starvation.

2. (i) Find in the poem the lines that mean the same as “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (Shakespeare).

But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend.

(ii) What is your opinion of the ant’s principles?

The ant's principle is good. The principle says that we should work hard and plan for future.

3. The ant tells the cricket to “dance the winter away”. Do you think the word ‘dance’ is appropriate here? If so, why?

The word 'dance' here means 'merry making till the winter comes'. It is appropriate here. The irresponsible cricket does not deserve any sympathy. 

4. (i) Which lines in the poem express the poet’s comment? Read them aloud.

The Poet's commentbis expressed in the last two lines. 

"Folks call this a fable, I'll warrant it true:

Some crickets have four legs, and some have two. "

4. (ii) Write the comment in your own words.

People say that this story of the cricket and the ant is imaginary or a fable with a moral. But I think that the story is true and educational.  Some people live only in the present. They spend what they earn, and make merry. But they regret this habit later on. 

5. If you know a fable in your own languages, narrate it your classmates. 

1. The Pigeon’s Collar

One day, an elephant was very happy. He invited all the animals and the birds of the jungle to a party.

Everyone wanted to dress well. The pigeon, who delivered the invitation to the party on behalf of the elephant, had no time to dress. All the other animals were nicely dressed up. When the pigeon saw this, he felt very bad. He said to the animals, sadly, “I have no new dress, so I will come in my old dress itself.”

The elephant felt sorry for the pigeon and thought of cheering him up. All the animals agreed, and said,”Do not worry, dear friend; we will arrange something for you.”

Then all the animals, collectively, gifted him a sparkling collar. The pigeon was very grateful and happy. Since that day, all pigeons wear sparkling blue purple collars.

2. The Cunning Fox’s Trick

A group of people was camping in a forest. By evening, they suddenly realized that they had no food left for dinner.

A man said, “I will bring some fresh meat. We can make a bonfire and roast it. He took a club and went to the lake thinking that animals would come to drink water. He lay on the ground and pretended to be dead.

After some time, some foxes came to the lake. The fox chief said,”I will check if this man is pretending to be dead.”

So, the fox pulled the man’s club, cautiously. The man pulled back his club, at once and quickly threw his club at the fox.

Unfortunately, He missed his aim. He looked for the other foxes, but everybody had run far away. The man thought, “I tried to play a trick on the animals, but the cunning fox played a better trick on me!”

3. The Missing Tail Feather 

Once, a peafowl realized that one of his tail feathers was missing. So he called the best detectives in the forest, the fox and the monkey. The fox was cleverer and wiser than the monkey. He followed the clues to find the missing tail feather. It led him to the deepest of the forests where he found a snake.

But he was hesitant to ask for help, so he said nothing to the snake and carried on looking for the missing feather. The monkey was gregorous and happy detective.

He entered the deep forest and found the same snake. He asked the snake,”Have you seen a peafowl’s feather?”

The snake was old to pleased to lead the monkey to the missing feather. The peafowl had dropped it while dancing in the rain. So the monkey returned to the feather and collected his reward. The fox realized he could have asked for help instead of being overconfident.