Dagens tekst, to med maur

I helgen har jeg vært på Bokmessa og lest Nikka for barn. Det er betimelig å gjøre seg en og annen tanke om sitt eget virke. Kanskje hadde det vært lurt å lært litt mer av mauren og ikke bare tulle omkring som en annen gresshoppe?

"Of the Ant and of the sygale.

It is good to purueye hym self in the somer season of suche thynges
wherof he shalle myster and haue nede in wynter season.
As thow mayst see by this present fable
Of the sygalle
whiche in the wynter tyme went and demaunded of the ant somme of her Corne for to ete
And thenne the Ant sayd to the sygall
what hast thow done al the somer last passed
And the sygalle ansuerd
I haue songe
And after sayd the ante to her
Of my corne shalt not thou none haue
And yf thow hast songe alle the somer
daunse now in wynter
And therfore there is one tyme for to doo some labour and werk
And one tyme for to haue rest
For he that werketh not ne doth no good
shal haue ofte at his teeth grete cold and lacke at his nede"

"The Ants and the grasshopper

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat. "What!" cried the Ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?" "I didn't have time to store up any food," whined the Grasshopper; "I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone." The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust."Making music, were you?" they cried. "Very well; now dance!" And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.There's a time for work and a time for play."

Den øverste illustrasjonen er fra Steinhovel 1501, så er det Caxton's tekst fra 1484, så tekst og tegning fra Milo Winter's Aesop for Children fra 1919, herfra. Er det ikke fantastisk med Æsop, han har noe for enhver situasjon.