Storytelling Week 4: Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, (Gotta Play Guitar)

La Cigale et la Fourmi on Flickr

Fourmi was a hard worker, and never took a break from preparing for the future. His friends would often ask him to go out for a drink or to go to the movies, but he replied that he had to save money. He had a lot of expenses for being so young, and he took his job very seriously. Some of his friends thought of him as the “party pooper”, but they knew that he was the most sensible one out of their group. He was more studious than any of them combined. When his friends went to parties on the weekends, Fourmi was preparing for the next exam. This way, he always made excellent grades while his friends were just managing C averages.

The only one of the friend group who was either not in school or working a full-time job was Cigale. He was a guitar player, and even though he had a part-time job, his goal was to become a professional musician. No matter the amount of skill he had, Cigale could never manage to secure more than two paid gigs a month. He cut his work hours in order to practice his guitar more often. His friends thought that this wasn’t a very practical thing to do, but none of them paid him much mind, as they thought he would grow more mature as time went by. Cigale, however, grew more passionate about music. He slacked while working at his part-time job so badly that he was eventually fired. When he went to his parents, they refused to give him any money.

Cigale continued on this way for a number of months. Getting kicked out of his apartment for being too behind on rent, he began staying at his friend’s houses. When he had exhausted every other friend but Fourmi, Cigale decided to go and ask him for help. Fourmi said to Cigale, “You never wanted to listen to my advice before now. I suggested that you either go to school or go learn a trade, but you just wanted to practice your guitar. Practicing guitar is a respectable thing to do, and you are good at it. However, you are not being reasonable. You cannot breeze through life by depending on other people. You tried to earn a living playing an instrument, and that hasn’t worked out. Can you sing and dance now, too?”

Author’s Note: This story is inspired by The Ant and the Grasshopper, one of Aesop’s fables. I read this fable first in a French course last semester, and thought it was great that I get to read some of the same material in a different context this semester. In French, the fable is entitled La Cigale et la Fourmi, or The Cicada and the Ant. This is where I got the characters’ names. In the fable, a Grasshopper refuses to prepare for the winter during the summer months because he would rather sing. He asks the Ant, who had been working hard all through the fine summer days, for help. She refuses and tells the Grasshopper to try singing, now. Turning this fable into a story about people was meant to make it more relatable to the reader. We all know someone who is not very motivated and does not try to live up to their full potential, or who has unrealistic expectations.

Jacobs, Joseph, et al. Aesop's Fables. Rizzoli, 1991. Web.