The Ant and the Cricket - Worksheets

CBSE WorkSheet 01 
The Ant and the Cricket
  1. Whom did the cricket ask for help? Answer in the context of The Ant and the Cricket.
  2. When was the cricket happier? Answer in the context of The Ant and the Cricket.
  3. What did the cricket say to the ant? How did the ant react to it?
  4. Why would you consider The Ant and the Cricket to be a fable?
  5. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
    At last by starvation and famine made bold,
    All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
    Away he set off to a miserly ant,
    To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant
    1. Who was suffering from starvation and famine?
      (a) the Ant
      (b) the Cricket
      (c) the poet
      (d) a man
    2. Why was he 'dripping with wet’?
      (a) It was raining hard
      (b) He had dived in a pond
      (c) He had no shelter
      (d) He had taken a bath.
    3. What did he expect to get from the miserly ant?
      (a) good advice
      (b) food
      (c) shelter
      (d) food and shelter
  6. Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
    Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,
    And out of the door turned the poor little cricket,
    Folks call this a fable. I’ll warrant it true,
    Some crickets have four legs, and some have two.
    1. What do folks call this story?
    2. How did the ant react to the Cricket?
    3. What is the poet's opinion about cricket's and the ant's story?
CBSE WorkSheet 01 
The Ant and the Cricket
Solution
  1. The cricket asked a miserly ant for help.
  2. The cricket was happier through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring.
  3. The cricket requested the ant to give him shelter from the rain. He also requested the ant to lend him a small amount of grain. He said that he would pay the ant back after a while. He only wanted to borrow. He said that if the ant did not do what he wanted, he might die. The miserly ant said that he considered the cricket a friend. However, he said that the ants neither borrowed nor lent. The ant said that since he had passed summer singing, he should pass winter dancing. So saying, the ant turned the cricket out of his house.
  4. The Ant and the Cricket is a fable because it gives the lesson that we should be hard-working and prepared for the future. We should not believe in the principle of borrowing and lending.
  5. i. (b), ii. (c), iii. (d).
    1. Folks call this story a fable.
    2. The ant turned the door to the cricket.
    3. The poet believes that it might be a fable for some but it is actually true that one should enjoy the present but not at the cost of ignoring the future.