A Beetle did not work to save for winter and suffered for that.
[Note: Also see Perry 373 for a similar story with a Grasshopper instead of a Beetle.]
Chambry (Ant and Beetle)
Note: The Chambry collection is published in Greek. AI was used to translate the Greek to this text:
In summertime, an ant was going about in a certain field gathering wheat and barley, storing up food for itself against the winter. A dung beetle, seeing this, mocked him as the most toilsome of creatures, since all through the season he labored more than any other animal. The ant at that time bore the mockery patiently and kept silent. But when winter came and the dung heap was washed away by the rains, the dung beetle, starving, came to the ant, begging to share in some of the food. The ant replied to him: “O dung beetle, if you had worked then when you reproached me for my toil, you would not now be in need of food.” The story teaches us not to neglect the care of our necessities, but to provide for our safety at the proper time.
How do you think an AI might simplify this fable? Here is one answer, and the illustration above was made from this simplification:
The Ant and the Dung Beetle
One summer, an industrious Ant labored day after day, collecting grain to fill his storehouse. A lazy Dung Beetle watched and jeered, calling the Ant foolish for working so hard when others were at leisure. The Ant said nothing and kept on with his task.
But when winter’s cold and rain came, the Dung Beetle’s filth was washed away, and he found himself shivering and hungry. He crawled to the Ant’s door, pleading for a morsel of grain. The Ant replied, “Friend, had you spent the summer preparing instead of mocking, you would not be begging now.”
Moral
Prepare in good times so you do not suffer in bad.
Perry. #112