Foreword:
This fable represents purely subjective behaviour. Numbered 15 in the Perry Index (as 15. The Fox and the Grapes out of Reach), this is one of the most popular of Aesop's Fables. The expressions "sour grapes" and "grapes are sour" have originated from this fable, and are commonly used to describe envious disparagement to others.
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One summer day, a fox was walking through an orchard.
The fox was thirsty, and he was looking around for some water.
Suddenly, a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes caught his attention. The grapes looked ready to burst with juice, and the fox's mouth watered for them.
"There is a fine bunch of grapes to quench my thirst", he told himself, as a he gazed longingly at them.
But, the bunch of grapes hung from a vine, trained along a high branch of a tree. It was higher than his reach, and he realized that he would have to jump to get at it.
He jumped at them, but missed them by a long way.
"The bunch is pretty high", he said to himself, "I will have to jump higher".
So, he walked off a short distance, and took a running leap at the bunch. But, just like the first attempt, he fell short once more.
"The bunch is indeed very high", he said to himself, "I will have to jump higher".
He took a good look at the the bunch of grapes, and the distance, and prepared himself for a higher jump.
He walked off a longer distance, and took another running leap at the bunch, but missed it again.
This failure made him angry, and he promised himself that he would jump high enough to reach the bunch.
He jumped, and jumped. And he tried again, and again, and again - but in vain!
He walked a long distance, and took a running leap. He jumped at the tree, and using the support of the tree, he tried to reach the bunch in the second simultaneous jump. He tried everything he could think of, but somehow he couldn't jump high enough to reach the bunch of grapes.
Thirsty, that he already was, all the running and jumping made him very tired. He sat panting beside the tree.
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While sitting beside the tree to catch his breath, he kept staring longingly at the bunch of grapes.
And he started realizing the bunch of grapes was too far up, and higher than he can possibly jump to reach. But, the fox was unwilling to accept his failure to reach the grapes.
He continued to stare at the grapes, when he observed a few green, unripe grapes in the bunch.
"I am sure these grapes are sour, anyway", he consoled himself into giving up, "There is no point in wasting all the energy in trying to reach the bunch of grapes, that is not worthy of eating."
With this, he got up and walked away - with an air, that he had voluntarily given up the chase.
Moral:
It is easy to despise what you cannot get.
Or,
There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that, which is beyond their reach.
Summary:
A fox wanted to eat a bunch of grapes that was perched high on a tree. He jumped and jumped, but could not reach the bunch - despite his best of efforts. Realizing that the bunch of grapes were perched higher than his reach, he gave up - and consoled himself that he was wasting time over some sour grapes, which were not worthy of eating.
