The Ant and the Grasshopper — Reloaded

Jayakumar Menon
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

Most stories have a beginning, a ‘middle’ and an ending. And if you get the characters right, the ending could help you make a new beginning.

You must have heard of the Aesop’s Fables The Ant and the Grasshopper. The ant worked all summer to save for the harsh winter. The gallivanting green grasshopper, on the other hand, spends a laid-back life, sitting on a blade of grass singing away to glory to the sun. Cool, callous and carefree. Result. Come winter, the ant has resources saved. While the grasshopper ends up miserable, frustrated, hungry and shivering.

Then there is the Ant and the Grasshopper essayed by Somerset Maugham Two brothers George and Tom. One works tirelessly saving for a rainy day like the ant, living a hand to mouth existence, raises a family, raises loans, mortgages and retires into poverty.

Tom gallivants like the Grasshopper, flirts , has all sorts of vices, and post middle age marries an old lady, inherits a fortune and lives happily ever after.

Now meet Freddy my friend. Straight, simple and sincere. Serious , no, Freddy my friend was never serious about life, he couldn’t and wouldn’t save a single dime, spending all his earnings on drinks, drugs and doxies.

Not wanting to see my friend destroying himself, I pulled him aside one evening and tried advising him.

Freddy broke down. His father left his mother the moment he was conceived. His mother in turn deserted him the moment he was born. Fatherless, Motherless, Rudderless, aimless, Freddy moved on. I too was moved. Tried to console him.

Asked him if he knew the Ant and the Grasshopper story.

Here I was trying to make him change. All I got in return was a cold silent stare.

I thought I was talking to a dead wall. I was wrong.

The next day he disappeared. Disappeared into thin air. Just like that. The last I could recollect of him was asking me the title of the story.

Six months later he calls me from a luxury cruise. Thank you, mate. Thanks to your grasshopper, I am fun frolicking in the Florida sun. I found and married a bored Baroness on board.

The answer unfolded soon. He was emulating Somerset Maugham’s grasshopper, with an eye on her fortune.

Friends, that’s what I call Vision Ambitious, but mission impossible.

Freddy’s honeymoon as expected didn’t last long. Soon after the marriage Baroness had a stroke She motioned him by her side and gave him a key to her safe on condition that he wouldn’t open it until after her death. A sly smile surfaced on his lips. I am closer to riches, he told himself.

Poor baroness breathed her last and predictably Freddy made a dash to the safe.and opened it frantically to find nothing in it except a small note scribbled on it. It was like a bolt from the blue.

The note read:

Freddy honey,

Sorry, I have no money.

No money, no riches,

Only my name is Anna Baroness.

Freddy was shocked. And devastated. But soon realised his folly. He idolised the wrong character from the wrong story.

Friends we all face frustrations. We may resort to classical stories and characters in those stories for inspiration and solutions.

Reload the right characters from the right stories into your life. Let the ending help you make a new good beginning. Which ones to reload, I leave it over to you.

Jayakumar Menon

Written by

Creative writer, Lateral thinker, Business coach, Speech writer, Motivational speaker, Mentor, Book reviewer, Content writer, Freelance Editor

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