The Fox and the Grapes
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Fables and talesThe Hare and the TortoiseAesop, published 1867The hare mocks the tortoise, agrees to a race, and the tortoise keeps a steady pace.easy488 characters
Fables and talesThe Milkmaid and Her PailAesop, published 1867The milkmaid counts eggs, chickens, a gown, and suitors before she has any of them.easy492 characters
ProseLittle Women, the gray dawn of ChristmasLouisa May Alcott, published 1868Jo wakes early on Christmas morning and finds the gift her mother promised.easy363 characters
Townsend keeps the detail that the grapes hang from a trellised vine, out of reach however the fox tries. The moral is left to the fox, who talks herself out of wanting what she cannot have. Printed Aesop reached English readers as early as 1484, in William Caxton’s edition. The fable is number 15 in the Perry Index and gave English the phrase sour grapes.
Where this text comes fromThe phrase sour grapes came into English from this fable and has outlived almost everyone who could name its source. The version here is a Victorian translation which keeps the detail of the trellis, so the grapes are not merely high but deliberately trained out of reach, and the fox is defeated by cultivation rather than by height. Printed Aesop reached English readers within a decade of printing arriving in the country, which makes this one of the oldest continuously reprinted stories in the language.
What you might not noticeThis translation begins every fable with its opening words set in full capitals, so the first three words of the story arrive before any lower case letter does. Source
What it trainsSeventeen capital letters in 303 characters, fourteen of them inside sentences, and nearly all of that load lands in the opening words, which this translation sets in full capitals. Typing three consecutive words in capitals means holding Shift rather than tapping it, a different motion from the one the rest of the passage needs. After that the text settles: four commas, a colon and a pair of quotation marks that close the fable. Three sentences average nineteen words.
From our blogHow to Learn Touch Typing Without Bad Habits
Public domain status: published in 1867, more than 125 years ago. public domain, Project Gutenberg
More texts in this category
Fables and talesThe Hare and the TortoiseAesop, published 1867The hare mocks the tortoise, agrees to a race, and the tortoise keeps a steady pace.easy488 characters
Fables and talesThe Milkmaid and Her PailAesop, published 1867The milkmaid counts eggs, chickens, a gown, and suitors before she has any of them.easy492 characters
Fables and talesThe North Wind and the SunAesop, published 1867The wind and the sun compete over a traveler’s cloak, and warmth wins.easy468 characters
Fables and talesAlice in Wonderland: down the rabbit holeLewis Carroll, published 1865Alice follows the rabbit into its hole and finds herself falling down a very deep well.easy329 characters
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