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Fables and tales

The Fox and the Grapes

Author: Aesop Year: 1867 Length: 474 characters Difficulty: medium Public domain

Two capitalised words open the fable and a short quotation closes it, so the run starts with Shift and ends with quotation marks.

A FAMISHED FOX saw some clusters of ripe black grapes hanging from a trellised vine. She resorted to all her tricks to get at them, but wearied herself in vain, for she could not reach them. At last she turned away, hiding her disappointment and saying: “The Grapes are sour, and not ripe as I thought.” The Walnut-Tree A WALNUT TREE standing by the roadside bore an abundant crop of fruit. For the sake of the nuts, the passers-by broke its branches with stones and sticks.

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Tall masted ships along a wet quay lit by street lamps under a pale green sky, Shipping on the Clyde, John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1881.
What you just typedThe Fox and the GrapesAesop, 1867
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About this text

The fable is number 15 in the Perry Index and gave English the phrase sour grapes. Townsend keeps the detail that the grapes hang from a trellised vine, out of reach however the fox tries. Printed Aesop reached English readers as early as 1484, in William Caxton's edition. The moral is left to the fox, who talks herself out of wanting what she cannot have.

About this text

The fable is number 15 in the Perry Index and gave English the phrase sour grapes. Townsend keeps the detail that the grapes hang from a trellised vine, out of reach however the fox tries. Printed Aesop reached English readers as early as 1484, in William Caxton's edition. The moral is left to the fox, who talks herself out of wanting what she cannot have.

What it trains

Two capitalised words open the fable and a short quotation closes it, so the run starts with Shift and ends with quotation marks.

Public domain

Copyright has expired or never applied, so anyone can copy the text and use it further.

Source: domena publiczna, Project Gutenberg

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