La Cigale et la Fourmi by La Fontaine: the Full Text, and the Fable Without a Moral
Looking for the text of La Cigale et la Fourmi ? Here it is in full, in the original French with a plain English translation, followed by a simple reading : where the fable comes from, how it is built, and why its ending, with no written moral, has been argued over for three centuries.
The FableLa Cigale et la Fourmi, the Complete Original Text
The fable opens the first collection of Jean de La Fontaine's Fables, published in 1668 : it is the very first of Book I. Old editions punctuate the final exchange with dashes ; we give it here with quotation marks, one line of dialogue at a time, without changing a word.
La Cigale, ayant chanté
Tout l'été,
Se trouva fort dépourvue
Quand la bise fut venue :
Pas un seul petit morceau
De mouche ou de vermisseau.
Elle alla crier famine
Chez la Fourmi sa voisine,
La priant de lui prêter
Quelque grain pour subsister
Jusqu'à la saison nouvelle.
« Je vous paierai, lui dit-elle,
Avant l'oût, foi d'animal,
Intérêt et principal. »
La Fourmi n'est pas prêteuse ;
C'est là son moindre défaut.
« Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud ? »
Dit-elle à cette emprunteuse.
« Nuit et jour à tout venant
Je chantais, ne vous déplaise. »
« Vous chantiez ? j'en suis fort aise.
Eh bien ! dansez maintenant. »
Jean de La Fontaine, Fables.
A plain prose translation, offered as a reading aid ; the print itself carries the French original.
The Cicada, having sung all summer long, found herself most destitute when the north wind came: not one little morsel of fly or worm.
She went crying famine to the Ant, her neighbour, begging her to lend a little grain to live on until the new season. “I will pay you,” she said, “before harvest time, on an animal's word: interest and principal.”
The Ant is no lender: that is the least of her faults. “What were you doing in the warm days?” she said to the borrower. “Night and day, to all comers, I sang, if you please.” “You sang? I am delighted. Well then, dance now.”
Where does this fable come from?
It is the front door of the whole work: the first fable of the first book of the first collection, published in 1668 and dedicated to the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. La Fontaine takes up a very old story attributed to Aesop, in which a starving cicada begs food from the ants, and turns it into a little piece of theatre: two characters, one dialogue, and a door closing.
One word often stops readers: “avant l'oût”. It is the old French spelling of août, August: the Cicada promises to repay before the harvest. The rest of her promise comes straight from the language of contracts: “interest and principal”, on an animal's word of honour.
A Stanza-by-Stanza Reading
Twenty-two lines of seven syllables, except one: “Tout l'été”, three syllables, as light as the summer of singing it sums up. A short narrative, two dialogues, and no closing moral.
Summer, then the north wind
Six lines set up everything. The Cicada has sung all summer, the cold wind has arrived, and nothing is left: not a morsel of fly or worm. Real cicadas eat neither, and do not live through winter; La Fontaine is not writing natural history, he is staging a situation: the artist facing winter.
The request: a proper loan
The Cicada does not beg, she borrows. She asks for “some grain to live on until the new season” and promises to repay before harvest, “interest and principal”. The vocabulary is that of a contract between neighbours. That is what makes the scene feel so modern: nothing picturesque, everything a matter of credit, deadlines and trust.
The refusal, and the ending
“The Ant is no lender: that is the least of her faults.” In a line and a half La Fontaine slips in all his irony: to call refusing to lend her smallest fault is to hint at larger ones. Then comes the trap question, the disarming confession of song, and the reply that snaps shut: “Well then, dance now.” The fable stops dead. Nobody comments.
You sang? I am delighted. Well then, dance now. La Cigale et la Fourmi, the ending
Why this fable has no moral
Many fables spell out their lesson. This one ends on the Ant's reply, and La Fontaine takes no side. Should we admire the Ant's foresight, or pity the Cicada, who gave her song to everyone and receives nothing? The text leaves the judgement to the reader, and that is exactly why it has been argued over for three centuries. Rousseau, in Émile, already distrusted what a child would take from it. A fable that settles the question is forgotten; this one keeps the argument open, so it keeps being reread.
The Poem on Your Wall
At Heure d'été we set the full text of La Cigale et la Fourmi as a typographic art print, composed like the page of an old edition: the poem, the poet's name, nothing else. Printed to order on 170 g/m² matte paper, it finds its place in a reading corner, above a desk, or inside a gallery wall of literary prints.
There is a quiet pleasure in living with French literature in the original. The poem keeps the language it was written in, and with it the sound the writer chose, which no translation quite carries over. On an English-speaking wall it stops being decoration and becomes something with a little cachet: a piece of France you can read on your way past, every morning.
A poem you love on a wall is a text you reread. That is the whole idea.
The Last Word
La Cigale et la Fourmi is the text through which generations of French readers first meet poetry, and it has not finished working. Read it, reread it, and there is a particular pleasure in having French literature on your wall in its original words.
French fables and poems as art prints
The great French poems set as typographic art prints, printed to order on 170 g/m² matte paper.
See the full collection →
Frequently Asked Questions
Which collection is La Cigale et la Fourmi from?
La Cigale et la Fourmi (The Cicada and the Ant) is the first fable of Book I of Jean de La Fontaine's Fables, published in 1668 and dedicated to the Dauphin. It opens the whole collection.
What is the moral of La Cigale et la Fourmi?
The fable states no explicit moral: it ends on the Ant's reply, “Well then, dance now”. It is often read as a lesson in foresight, but the text leaves the reader to judge between the thrifty Ant and the singing Cicada.
What does “avant l'oût” mean in the fable?
L'oût is the old French spelling of août, August: the Cicada promises to repay her loan before the harvest, “interest and principal”, as in a contract.
How is the fable structured?
Twenty-two lines of seven syllables, except “Tout l'été”, which has only three. A brief narrative sets the scene, then two dialogues lead to the ending, with no closing moral.
