The Ant and The Cricket Class 8
Question 1: The cricket says, “Oh! What will become of me?” When does he say it, and why?
Answer: The cricket said the given line when it found that its cupboard was empty and winter had arrived. It could not find a single crumb to eat on the snow-covered ground and there were no flowers or leaves on the tree. It wondered what would become of it because it was getting cold and since there was nothing to eat, it would starve and die.
Question 2:
(i) Find in the poem the lines that mean the same as “Neither a borrower nor a lender is” (Shakespeare).
Answer: The line is: But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend.
(ii) What is your opinion of the ant’s principles?
Answer: The ant’s principle is not bad. It teaches a lesson to everybody to plan for the rainy day.
Question 3: The ant tells the cricket to “dance the winter away.” Do you think the word ‘dance’ is appropriate here? If so, why?
Answer: The ant told the cricket to “dance the winter away” because when it asked the cricket what it did in the summers and why it had not stored any food for summers, the cricket answered that it sang through the warm and sunny months of summers. Therefore, in reply to this, the ant asked the cricket to “dance” the winter away just like it “sang” all through the summers and did not bother to store food for winters.
Question 4:
Question 4:
(i) Which lines in the poem express the poet’s comment? Read them aloud.
Answer: The poet’s comment is expressed in the last two lines.
“Folks call this a fable, 111 warrant it true.”
(ii) Write the comment in your own words.
Answer: People say that this story of the cricket and the ant is imaginary or a fable with a moral. But I think that the story is true and educative. Some people live only in the present. They spend what they earn, and make merry. But they regret this habit later on.
Question 5: If you know a fable in your own language narrate it to your classmates.
Answer: Do it yourself.
