I must help my sisters put away food for the winter the ant said as she hurried along At that the grasshopper laughed and laughed Winter was months and months away How silly to let the beautiful summer pass without leaping and hopping and playing Every day the grasshopper would see the ant carrying corn and seeds and bits of crust dropped by people It never looked like something the grasshopper would enjoy at all Instead he danced the days away nibbling grass whenever he wanted One day he was jumping and leaping in the crispy brown leaves when something white and wet fell right on his head Snow Winter is here the grasshopper gasped I must gather He hopped and leaped and spun but he could fi nd no green grass under the snow Finally the grasshopper crawled into a crack in a log shivering The ant was right he chattered Save in the good times to help in the bad 8
2 The Boy Who Cried Wolf On a grassy hill overlooking a village a boy sat on a rock next to his father’s fl ock of sheep The boy looked down on the village below He thought about how much more fun he would have if his chores were in the village instead of all alone in the sheep pasture I’m bored he complained The sheep looked at him a moment Then they returned to eating grass I’m very bored he complained even louder The sheep looked at him and then went back to their eating Being looked at by sheep was not that interesting The boy wanted the attention of people not sheep That gave him an idea He 9
knew exactly how to get lots of people to look He stood up on his rock and shouted A wolf Help A wolf is after the sheep As he yelled he saw the people from the village swarm up the hill They raced up to the boy and said Where is the wolf He must have heard you coming the boy said He left The people looked suspicious but they patted the boy on the head and went home The boy waited until they were gone and he laughed and laughed about his trick Then he decided to try it again He scrambled back up on his rock and yelled The wolf is back Help Again the people rushed up the hill And again the boy said the wolf must have rushed off Now the people shook their heads and frowned at the boy We have no time for games the village baker scolded as the villagers walked away 10
The boy decided the second time wasn’t quite as fun as the fi rst As the late afternoon sun made shadows around the sheep he wondered if calling the villagers a third time might be best of all Then he spotted a real wolf creeping out of the woods toward the sheep The boy leaped up on top of the rock and yelled A wolf Help Help The wolf backed up when the boy yelled but no one came So he raced up and grabbed the biggest fattest sheep and dragged it toward the woods The boy tried chasing the wolf with a stick but he couldn’t save the sheep all by himself When the boy fi nally took the rest of the sheep home his father scolded him sharply When you are known as a liar no one believes you even when you speak the truth 11
