Very Short  Questions

Question 1 : When did the cricket realise a change in his circumstances?

Answer : The cricket realised a changed in his circumstances when he saw that his cupboards were empty and the winter had come.

Question 2 : Why is the adjective ‘gay’ used to describe summer and spring?

Answer : The adjective ‘gay’ is used to describe summer and spring because these were the warm and sunny months and the food was to be found in abundance. There was a no shortage of any kind.

Question 3 : What did the cricket seek from the ant?

Answer : The cricket asked for shelter and a handful of grain from the ant in order to survive.

Question 4 : The ant refuses to help the cricket because of a principle. What is that principle?

Answer : The ants neither borrow nor lend.

Short Questions

Question 1 : Describe the sufferings of the cricket.

Answer : The cricket suffered a great deal as the winter set in. He realised that he had no food. His cupboards were empty. Even the nature had nothing to offer. There were no flowers or leaves on the trees. The cricket was starving under these circumstances and felt that he might die if the ant refuses to help.

Question 2 : How different are the ant and the cricket from each other?

Answer : The ant called himself a friend of the cricket. However, both the friends were very different from each other. The cricket was silly and foolish. He did not work during the summer and the spring and didn’t store anything for the winter. The ant, on the other hand, worked according to principles. He worked hard during the summer and the spring and created a store house on which he could depend during the winter.

Question 3 : Does the poet criticise the ant for his unhelpful behaviour?

Answer : The poet doesn’t say anything about the ant, except that the ant was a miserly ant, but he surely doesn’t glorify the cricket’s behaviour. Through the cricket’s example,  he extends the moral of the tale. Human beings should work hard and save for the bad times rather than depending on the others.

The critique of cricket’s ways doesn’t justify the ant’s unhelpful behaviour, but it surely details the ant’s way of living was better than that of the cricket.

Value Based Questions

Question 1 : Discuss the moral lesson imparted by the poem.

Answer : The poem showcases how the cricket is left with nothing to sustain itself as it spent all the time in merry making without worrying about the future.

In order to sustain itself, it is now dependent on begging and asking for merry of fellow creatures like that of the ant.