Book I: The Grasshopper and the Ant
A Grasshopper gaySang the summer away,And found herself poorBy the winter's first roar.Of meat or of bread,Not a morsel she had!So a begging she went,To her neighbour the ant,For the loan of some wheat,Which would serve her to eat,Till the season came round.'I will pay you,' she saith,'On an animal's faith,Double weight in the poundEre the harvest be bound.'The ant is a friend(And here she might mend)Little given to lend.'How spent you the summer?'Quoth she, looking shameAt the borrowing dame.'Night and day to each comerI sang, if you please.''You sang! I'm at ease;For 'tis plain at a glance,Now, ma'am, you must dance.'
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- neighbour v. i.
- To dwell in the vicinity; to be a neighbor, or in the neighborhood; to be near.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- dame n.
- A mistress of a family, who is a lady; a womam in authority; especially, a lady. [F. dame, LL. domna, fr. L. domina mistress, lady, fem. of dominus master, ruler, lord; akin to domare to tame, subdue. See Tame, and cf. Dam mother, Dan, Danger]
- comer n.
- One who comes, or who has come; one who has arrived, and is present. All comers, all who come, or offer, to take part in a matter, especially in a contest or controversy.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Book I: The Grasshopper and the Ant is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Fables of La Fontaine, Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, the Elizur Wright translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Jean de La Fontaine, Book I: The Grasshopper and the Ant, in The Fables of La Fontaine (1841), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #7241, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/la-fontaine-fables/1-1.html, id L28211.
Form and metre
Book I: The Grasshopper and the Ant is 26 lines in a single stanza. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AA------BBCDDCCEEEFGGFHHII gayA · awayA · poor · roar · bread · had · went · ant · wheatB · eatB · roundC · saithD · faithD · poundC · boundC · friendE · mendE · lendE · summerF · shameG · dameG · comerF · pleaseH · easeH · glanceI · danceI
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A Grasshopper gay | 5 | ·/·˘· |
| Sang the summer away, | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| And found herself poor | 5 | ··˘/· |
| By the winter's first roar. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Of meat or of bread, | 5 | ····· |
| Not a morsel she had! | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| So a begging she went, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| To her neighbour the ant, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| For the loan of some wheat, | 6 | ······ |
| Which would serve her to eat, | 6 | ······ |
| Till the season came round. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| 'I will pay you,' she saith, | 6 | ······ |
| 'On an animal's faith, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Double weight in the pound | 6 | /˘···· |
| Ere the harvest be bound.' | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| The ant is a friend | 5 | ····· |
| (And here she might mend) | 5 | ····· |
| Little given to lend. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| 'How spent you the summer?' | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Quoth she, looking shame | 5 | ··/˘· |
| At the borrowing dame. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| 'Night and day to each comer | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I sang, if you please.' | 5 | ····· |
| 'You sang! I'm at ease; | 5 | ····· |
| For 'tis plain at a glance, | 6 | ······ |
| Now, ma'am, you must dance.' | 5 | ····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.