13 August—As Donald Trump and his enthusiastic flunkies continue to pervert and subvert the United States to the delight of subversive perverts, relax with a little film from 1927 by Ladislas Starevich.

Trained fleas in flea circuses are nothing compared to the bugs Starevich trained and rehearsed for his fabulous films. This flick is particularly fabulous because it’s based on Aesop’s fable of the grasshopper and the ant, as retold in the 17^th century by Jean de la Fontaine. As you’ll see in the titles, Fontaine calls it “La Cigale et la Fourmi,” which actually means “The Cicada and the Ant,” as in Aesop’s original.

Ladislas Starevich was Polish and born Władysław Starewicz in Moscow, but simplified his name when he moved to France, where he died at 82 in 1965.

You know the rather sad story about the grasshopper who hadn’t planned for the future and was turned away by the heartless ant who had, so you won’t need a translation of Fontaine’s elegant French verse.

The marvelous music is a little piece played over and over, titled “Mini Vandals.” It’s by someone called M. Fischer and is Youtube No Copyright Music.

Who would have thought bugs could be trained to act? And would you believe the ants built the sets?

Before you go, here’s Ambrose Bierce’s take on the fable, based on observation and reality:

One day in winter a hungry grasshopper applied to an ant for some of the food which they had stored.
“Why,” said the ant, “did you not store up some food for yourself, instead of singing all the time?”
“So I did,” said the grasshopper. “So I did; but you fellows broke in and carried it all away.”