De Krekel En De Mier

The Cricket and the Ant

I sing with great pleasure
The song of the cricket and the ant
The cricket, strong and young
Who sang lovely songs all through the sweet summer
Of the chirp chirp chirp, of the cricket
Of the rain, the sun, and the wind
Of a cricket mister and a cricket miss
And in due time, a well-formed cricket child
"That's nice," said the cricket, "that's nice
I want to be a cricket all my life"

The ant, she toiled on
And if the cricket song disturbed her
She would call out: "Hey, take it
You know that business comes first for a girl
You have to rely on the penny
Everything is built on the penny
Work as hard as you can, because summer is short
And winter, on the other hand, is often long and cold"
"Oh you," said the cricket, "oh you
If you want to work, go ahead, but leave the song to me"

You know how it went
Summer came to an end and autumn arrived
The ant crawled into her hole
Though she was overworked, she had her pantry full
But the chirp chirp chirp, poor cricket
Had no food, no home, and no money
He asked the ant for help
But the ant said: "Go away
If you want to sing, keep singing, see how you fare"
"A loaf of bread," said the cricket, "a loaf of bread"
Then the first frost came and froze him to death

And at the funeral, the council of ants spoke
Standing at the grave, on behalf of all other animals
"Poetry see see, is so delightful
Poetry see see, is so beautiful
This cricket has brought the sacrifice through singing
Our gratitude and respect we offer him as reward"
"That's nice," said the larva, "that's nice
When I grow up, I want to be such a brave cricket too"

"But then a cricket with a subsidy"