One warm summer afternoon a grasshopper noticed his friend, the ant, carrying a very large kernel of corn down the long path toward his busy ant hill.

"Why don't you rest for a while?" chirped the grasshopper. "Don't you realize that you work too hard? Come and visit, you can work on that kernel later."

"I'm in too great a hurry to visit today," replied the ant, "I'm putting food away for the winter and I suggest you do the same."

"Why are you so worried? There's plenty of time for gathering food. The winter is so far away and it's such a beautiful day, why not enjoy it?" The ant shook it's head and continued on it's way while the grasshopper rested in comfort on a large leaf overhead.

Each new day the grasshopper would invite the ant to rest and visit but each day the ant would politely respond "No thank you," and go on with its work.

One day, a cold winter wind began to blow and the grasshopper suddenly realized that the summer was over and he had not prepared a nest nor stored any food for himself to eat while his friend, the ant, was safe and sound deep in the ground and well prepared for the long winter.

Too late, the grasshopper learned that it is better to prepare for days of want during days of plenty.