The Aesop's fable and the Maugham's story has two very different messages.In the Aesop's fable of the ant and the grasshopper,the industrious ant worked very hard through the summer and had all his food saved for winter but the grasshopper who never cared about his future ended up begging for food.So the ant's hard work was paid off in the end.While in the other story, Tom,who was an idle and irresponsible guy who barely did any good things in his life got lucky and was in a better position than his honest,industrious and much more worthy brother.