It was summer, the season for sweet and delicious fruits. It was a very hot day. The sun had been shining brightly and there was not a scrap of cloud in the sky. A fox had been walking along the outskirts of the village and in the fields, looking for something to eat.
The fox hadn’t found anything so far. And now he was not only hungry but also very, very thirsty. There was no water to drink either! He felt very sad and weak; he almost lost all hope.
Prowling around the edge of the village, he came to a vineyard. It was cool under the vines, so he lay down to rest for a while. Looking above him, he saw that the huge bunches of luscious-looking grapes were hanging from the vines. Very soon, the harvest was to start.
The fox was hungry and thirsty. ‘This is wonderful!’ he thought, looking at the plump and juicy grapes, ‘I will have enough to quench my thirst and to have a rich meal too!’ He felt quite delighted thinking of the food.
The fox got up to take a bite and found that the vines were a little higher. He tried standing on his hind
legs to reach the grapes. But they were still a little higher.
‘How do I reach the grapes?’ he wondered, ‘Let me try to jump!’ And the fox tried it out. He jumped up and down trying to reach them, but they were always just out of reach.
The fox was already feeling hot and tired. And he was getting very irritated because the grapes were so juicy and so close, and yet he simply couldn’t get them! ‘I think I’ll run and jump at them,’ he decided, ‘That
way, I’ll be able to leap higher!’ He took a running jump at the grapes but they were still beyond his reach.
The fox gazed up longingly at the grapes. There were so many of them. They were so round, so ripe, so purple, so perfect! His envy for the grapes became an obsession; he must have them. The fox backed up even farther; he ran faster, he leaped even higher but he returned to the ground. There were still no grapes in his jaws. The fox was furious that despite all his efforts, he was not able to reach the grapes. The angry fox looked at the grapes and to console himself, he growled, “I’m sure they are not tasty after all! They must be sour. They are not worth all this effort!” And so, he slunk away from there.
