Der Heuschreck und die Ameise

Lotte Reiniger interpreted the moral fable of “The Grasshopper and the Ant”—which has been reworked countless times over the centuries—from her own perspective: “The fable ends with the ant’s triumph, and I didn’t want that. I’m very much on the grasshopper’s side.” Because of the aesthetics of silhouette animation, she transformed the stocky cricket into a grasshopper. The result is a small masterpiece.