Papa Joe ~ Telling Tales

The Ant and the Grasshopper
retold by Papa Joe 1999

Once upon a time,
A long, long time ago,
Far, far away,
There was an ant hill.
In the ant hill was ants;
Lots a ants.
Old ants, middle aged ants, and young ants.

In the Winter,
They could sleep late
And play all day long.
But in the Spring
And in the Summer
And in the Fall
Those ants had to get up wicked early in the morning.
And after breakfast,
They had to gather food for Winter.

They had to:
Dig it up, dig it up, dig it up,  (digging movement)
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, (picking movement)
Stack it up, stack it up, stack it up, (stacking movement)
'Til supper.
Then they got to play.

The young ants thought this was BORING.
Every day:
Dig it up, dig it up, dig it up,
then:
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up,
then:
Stack it up, stack it up, stack it up,
'Til supper.

One day they got an idea.
They thought that if they worked
S L O W L Y,
the other ants would end up doing most of the work.
So the next day they tried it.

They:
D u g   I t  U p,   D u g   I t  U p,   D u g   I t  U p,
P i c k e d  I t  U p,   P i c k e d  I t  U p,   P i c k e d  I t  U p,
S t a c k e d  I t  U p,    S t a c k e d  I t  U p,    S t a c k e d  I t
U p,

But the other ants didn't do any extra work
So the young ants ended up working 'til bedtime.
That was very BORING.

The next day, the young ants
Were back to work at their regular speed.

Dig it up, dig it up, dig it up,
then:
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up,
then:
Stack it up, stack it up, stack it up,

But...
Just about lunch time
They heard a sound coming towards them.
It was a fiddling sound.

{to the tune of the Irish Washwoman's Jig}
Vee Vi  (fiddling movement)
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

It was a grasshopper and his fiddle.

The young ants loved it.
They said, "Grasshopper.
"Stay here and play for us.
"We'll give you some supper."

Well, that was fine with the grasshopper
So he played.

Vee Vi
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

While the ants worked,
But the young ants enjoyed the music so much
They worked twice as fast
And had their work done
In half the time.

{faster}
Dig it up, dig it up, dig it up,
then:
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up,
then:
Stack it up, stack it up, stack it up,

While the ants feed the Grasshopper
They said, "Grasshopper.
"Stay here and play for us tonight
"We'll give you breakfast in the morning."

Well, that was fine with the grasshopper
So he played.

Vee Vi
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

Well, as the ants didn't have to work in the evening
They danced.
Ever see an ant dance?

(dancing movement)
Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha
Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha

The next morning the ants had the grasshopper stay and play.

Vee Vi
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

While the ants worked so fast

Dig it up, dig it up, dig it up,
then:
Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up,
then:
Stack it up, stack it up, stack it up,

They were done by lunch.

Of course, the ant had the grasshopper stay that night

Vee Vi
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

So they could dance.

Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha
Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha

And so it went
Day after day
Until by Winter
The ant hill was filled so full
It looked like a mountain
At least it did to an ant.

But more important
The ants didn't have to work anymore.
Now they could sleep late
And play all day long.

The first day
They slept 'til noon.
That was wonderful.

The second day
They slept 'til nine.
And that was okay.

The third day
They were awake by six.
And as they had nothing to do,
It was BORING.

Then they heard a knock at their front door.
It was the grasshopper
Blue with cold
And icicles hanging from his fiddle.
"It's so cold and I'm so hungry."

The middle aged ants said,
"Serves you right
"Sitting around playing your fiddle
"When you should have been working for food and shelter."

But the young ants said,
"He was working.
"He was entertaining us.
"And we wouldn't have gotten as much work done
"If it hadn't been for his fiddling."

Then they turned to the grasshopper
Invited him in.
Dug him a room by the door.

At the bottom of the ant hill
They dug another room.
It was really a big hall.
At least to an ant.
A hall big enough
For all of the ants.

And every day
For the rest of the Winter
The Grasshopper played his fiddle in the hall.

Vee Vi
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I
Vittle I Vittle I Vittle I Vo

So the ants could dance.

Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha
Ouh Cha Cha  Ouh Cha

The End

Papa Joe ~ Telling Tales