Lyrics The Ant And The Grasshopper - Martin Carthy

The Ant And The Grasshopper

The ant and the grasshopper, everyone knows how the story goes,
How the ant was diligent, never spent
Anything lightly, laboured wisely,
And gathered his store for tomorrow.
As for the grasshopper, clad in the summer sunshine,
Light as the wind on the broken water,
His song he gave to the summer days,
Singing «Where the dance leads I’ll follow».
Then came a hard winter, nothing grew, and the cold wind blew,
But the ant was safe and sound, underground.
Carefully counting his pile around him,
Dividing his time until tomorrow.
Now see the grasshopper, blown by the north wind’s fury,
Hungering for the easy summer,
Comes to the ant and says, «My brother, give me bread,
«Now's the dance that I must follow».
«Why did you waste the summer, summers don’t last forever,
«You're just an idle beggar, you must pay the price, sacrifice.
«You wouldn’t heed me, you took life easy —
«Take the punishment that follows».
Now see the grasshopper reel like a dry leaf falling,
Weaving a dance that will last forever,
Back goes the ant to his nest to work, to feed, to rest,
For him there will always be tomorrow.
The ant and the grasshopper, everyone knows how the story goes,
How the ant was diligent, never spent
Anything lightly, laboured wisely,
And gathered his store for tomorrow.
As for the grasshopper, clad in the summer sunshine,
Light as the wind on the broken water,
His song he gave to the summer days,
Singing «Where the dance leads I’ll follow».