WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Poetry Fix: The Grasshopper and the Ant

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

In today’s episode of The Poetry Fix, join Erika Kyba for another bilingual episode. She reads La Fontaine's famous "The Grasshopper and the Ant" in French and English. Tune in to discover a new twist on the moral that you might have thought you knew.

Welcome to the Poetry Fix on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Erica Kaiba, bringing you your weekly fix of poetry from across time. Today we're reading La Fontaine's famous The Grasshopper and the Ant. Because it was written in French, we'll read the original, followed by a translation. We all know the story behind the parable. The Grasshopper spends the summer singing while the ant is hard at work, storing up for the winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper falls on the parable. hard times and is forced to go begging to the ant for food. The aunt coldly tells the grasshopper

to dance now, since she spent the summer singing. The moral of the story is apparently that the grasshopper was lazy and should have worked. But I don't want to talk about the grasshopper. I want to talk about the ant. To a lot of people, the ant's response seems unreasonable. Our translator casts the ant as a very prudent friend, which is a line that is not in the original poem. La Fontaine tersely declares that the ant is not. not much of a lender, and that this is her smallest fault. You could read this positively, like our translator, and interpret her refusal to lend as coming from an understanding of the Grasshopper's character. After all, if the Grasshopper wasn't capable of even providing

for herself, how can she be expected to work hard enough to pay the aunt back? But there's no reason to force this reading. There's nothing in the original poem that guarantees that the aunt is morally justified. She could simply be uncharitable. And that's the grasshopper's problem. She has presumed on charity in a world that owes her nothing. In La Fontaine's fables, we don't usually find a moral that relates to how to be a good person. Instead, his fables are about survival. If you want to survive, La Fontaine thinks, you have to be prepared for the worst in human nature.

An aunt that won't lend her grain is really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Lafontein's villains. With all that said, let's dive in. The Sigal and the Formy by La Fontaine. The sigal, having enchanted all the summer, was found far as far as for you when the bise was venu. Not a sole little piece of mouch or of vermissau. She had created famine at her formy, her cousin, the praying to him pretext to her,

to the season newvel. "'I've been, "'I, he said,' "'Avon, "'their, foie of animal, "'entere and principal. "'The fom-furny "'n is not preteous.

"'Celaus are "'so mow.' "'What did you "'Otain't "'as' said, "'a'n't' "'Nu'n't "'do you depletes.

"'You chanted, "'I'm sure "'Eas! "'And, yeah, "'dance' "'Dancey, man, "'Dancey! "'And so,

"'' The Grasshopper and the Ant, translated by Walter Thornbury. The grasshopper, so blithe and gay, sang the summertime away. Pinched and poor the spendthrift grew, when the sour Northeaster blew. In her larder not a scrap, bred to taste nor drink to lap. To the aunt, her neighbor, she, went to moan her penury, praying for a loan of wheat, just to make a loaf to eat, till the sunshine came again. All I say is fair and plain.

Pay you every grain, principal and interest too. Before harvest, I tell you, on my honor, every pound, ere a single sheaf is bound. The ants a very prudent friend, never much disposed to lend. Virtues great and failing small, this her failing least of all. Quoth she, how spent you the summer? Night and day to each newcomer I sang gaily by your leave, singing singing, Morn and Eve. You sang. I see it at a glance. Well then, now's the time to dance.

You've been listening to The Poetry Fix with Erica Kaiba. If you enjoyed this episode, consider following the Poetry Fix on Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Podcasts. And if you have any poems you want to see in a future episode, email your suggestions to the Poetry Fix at gmail.com. Join me next week and we'll be reading Wordsworths, The Table's, turned.