ΜΥΡΜΗΞ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΤΤΙΞ
Χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ τὸν σῖτον βραχέντα οἱ μύρμηκες ἔψυχον. τέττιξ δὲ λιμώττων ᾔτει αὐτοὺς τροφήν. οἱ δὲ μύρμηκες εἶπον αὐτῷ·
«διὰ τί τὸ θέρος οὐ συνῆγες καὶ σὺ τροφήν;» ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· «οὐκ ἐσχόλαζον, ἀλλ’ ᾖδον μουσικῶς.»
οἱ δὲ γελάσαντες εἶπον·
«ἀλλ’ εἰ θέρους ὥραις ηὔλεις, χειμῶνος ὀρχοῦ.»
ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ ὅτι οὐ δεῖ τινα ἀμελεῖν ἐν παντὶ πράγματι, ἵνα μὴ λυπηθῇ καὶ κινδυνεύσῃ.
During winter time the ants were drying their wet grain. A hungry cicada asked them for food. The ants said to him:
“Why weren’t you, too, gathering food during the summer?”
The cicada said:
“I did not have time, but I was singing music [lit. “musically”].”
The ants said laughingly:
“But if in the summer time you were singing [lit. “playing the flute”], dance in the winter!”
The myth makes clear that one should not, in every business, be careless, lest one fall into sorrow and danger.
(Translation: Jenny Teichmann)
