One afternoon a fox spots grapes high over a garden wall and jumps again and again but never reaches them. He shrugs it off as though nothing had happened, walks away down the path, and decides those grapes are sour after all.
One warm afternoon a hungry fox came along a garden wall and saw grapes hanging above him, bunch after heavy bunch, dark and shining on a vine that had been trained across a high trellis.
He sat back, gathered himself, and jumped. His nose came close, but the grapes stayed exactly where they were. He tried again, harder. He tried a third time, higher still, until his legs ached and the dust rose around him in a little cloud.
They were simply out of reach.
So the fox stopped jumping. He shook the dust from his coat, lifted his head, and set off down the path as though nothing at all had happened.
“I thought those grapes were ripe,” he said. “Now I can see they are sour.”
Retold by Talerie from Aesop’s Fables: a new translation (opens in a new window)License: Public domainCopy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required.CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)
