past perfect – The Ant And The Grasshopper

One sunny day in the summer, a family of Ants had collected food and worked hard before they stored all off the food. They hadn’t stooped before they had all the food they need for the winter. They had dried out the seeds they had stored up during the summer before they wouldn’t be eatable anymore.

Suddenly, a starving crying Grasshopper had come by with his fiddle under his arm just before he begged for a little bite to eat.

“What!” said the Ants in surprise, “hadn’t you stored anything away for the winter before you played your fiddle? What in the world had you done all last summer before you cried?”

“I had no 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 said. “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.