NCERT Solutions For Class 8 English Honeydew poem 1 – Free PDF Solutions

The winter arrived and the cricket did not collect food for himself. The cupboards were empty and he couldn't find even a single crumb to eat. The earth outside was covered with snow and there were no flowers or leaves visible. He felt he would starve and die since nothing could be found.

(i) “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” is similar to the line 'But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend’ in the poem.

(ii) When the cricket arrived to ask for food at the ant’s home, the ant was against it. The ant told the cricket to stop being lazy and work hard. It advised the cricket not to just live in the present but save for the future too. I don't agree with ant’s principle. The ant called itself to be a friend of cricket but instead of helping the cricket in times of distress, it started preaching about saving and how he should have been more careful.

The cricket sang through the warm sunny summers and didn't store food or winters. On hearing this the ant replied he should do the same in the winters too and the winters shall pass. 

I don't think the word ‘dance’ is appropriate because it is commenting sarcastically on the cricket’s tendency to be careless. In summers, instead of storing food for the winters it danced and sang. The ant, instead of helping him, is asking to dance and sing so that the time would pass quickly and summer would arrive again.

(i) The line “Folks call this a fable. I'll warrant it true” expresses the poet’s comment.

(ii) A fable is a literary genre, mostly prose or verse, and has animals, plants, inanimate objects, and nature as the main characters, which teach the reader a moral lesson. These stories don't have a scientific base and are fictitious. The poet tells his readers that it is a fable but he believes it is true since he likes the lesson that the story teaches. The cricket did not have anything to eat during winters because he was busy enjoying the warm summer weather. The poet wants the readers to be responsible during the sunny days so that they have sufficient time for the winter days.