The Fable of the Cicada and the Ant 



The child is essentially conservative. Cus- 

 tom and traditions become indestructible 

 once they are confided to the archives of his 

 memory. We owe to him the celebrity of 

 the Cicada, whose woes he stammered in his 

 first attempts at recitation. He preserves 

 for us the glaring absurdities that are part 

 and parcel of the fable: the Cicada will 

 always be hungry when the cold comes, 

 though there are no Cicadae left in the 

 winter; she will always beg for the alms of 

 a few grains of wheat, a food quite out of 

 keeping with her delicate sucker; the sup- 

 plicant is supposed to hunt for Flies and 

 grubs, she who never eats! 



Whom are we to hold responsible for 

 these curious blunders? La Fontaine, 1 who 

 charms us in most of his fables with his 

 exquisite delicacy of observation, is very ill- 

 inspired in this case. He knows thoroughly 

 his common subjects, the Fox, the Wolf, the 

 Cat, the Goat, the Crow, the Rat, the 

 Weasel and many others, whose sayings and 

 doings he describes to us with delightful 

 precision of detail. They are local char- 

 acters, neighbours, housemates of his. Their 



*Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), the author of the 

 world-famous Fables. Translator's Note. 



