Wladyslaw Starewicz tackles the de la Fontaine fable about the grasshopper and the ant, one of those stories that is so familiar that I don't feel the need to summarize it. Starewicz offers this tale of the insect world, with the ant working throughout the summer under harsh and dangerous conditions to lay aside enough to last through the winter, while the grasshopper -- in this version, a cicada -- plays his musical instrument throughout the summer, without a thought for the future.
But the cicada does not make music for himself, but for a insectile ballroom of other insects, drinking, dancing, having a fine old time, while the ant is drudging, fighting off beetles, and building vast palaces for the colony. The cicada works just as hard as the ant, and if he puts away nothing for the future, he can be accused of lacking foresight, but not of contributing. And so, in the end, the ant takes him into his home for the long, cold winter.