The Ass And The Grasshopper (Aesop's Fables)
The Ass And The Grasshopper (George Fyler Townsend's Version)
AN ASS having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, “The dew.” The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.
(From Three Hundred Æsop's Fables Literally Translated From The Greek By The Rev. Geo. Fyler Townsend, M.A. — Public Domain).
The Ass And The Grasshoppers (Milo Winter's Version)
One day as an Ass was walking in the pasture, he found some Grasshoppers chirping merrily in a grassy corner of the field.
He listened with a great deal of admiration to the song of the Grasshoppers. It was such a joyful song that his pleasure-loving heart was filled with a wish to sing as they did.
"What is it?" he asked very respectfully, "that has given you such beautiful voices? Is there any special food you eat, or is it some divine nectar that makes you sing so wonderfully?"
"Yes," said the Grasshoppers, who were very fond of a joke; "it is the dew we drink! Try some and see."
So thereafter the Ass would eat nothing and drink nothing but dew.
Naturally, the poor foolish Ass soon died.
The laws of nature are unchangeable.
(From The Æsop For Children With Pictures By Milo Winter — 1919 — Public Domain).
Note: Perry Index 184
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