Once in a jungle, there lived a fox. The fox was very hungry for he had not eaten for many days. He felt very weak and longed to find something to eat. The fox sighed sadly, “Ohh! I wish I had some food. I have not eaten for many days.”
As the fox wandered around searching for food, he came to a village at the edge of the forest. There he saw a big vineyard hedged with thorny bushes. There were big clusters of ripe and juicy grapes hanging from the vines. The hungry fox jabbered, “Mmmm…, Ripe grapes. Let me have some. “
The fox looked around to see if any one from the village was around. He wished, “I hope none of the villagers see me here.” There was no one in sight. He squeezed himself into the vineyard through a hole in the hedge.
Not having eaten for many days, the poor fox feasted his eyes on the ripe, delicious looking grapes. But he soon realised that it was not within easy reach. The fox quipped, “The grapes are hanging quite high. I will have to jump to reach them.”
The fox jumped up with his mouth open to snap up a big bunch of grapes, but they were just beyond his reach. His mouth snapped over thin air and he could fetch nothing. He whimpered, “Ugh!! This is higher than I had thought. I should jump higher to get a mouthful of grapes.”
Thus, the hungry fox did not give up. The sight of ripe, juicy grapes was too much for him. He moved back a few paces so that he could run and jump higher. But the fox just could not jump high enough to reach the grapes.
He was hungry, weak and tired. Famished and angry now, he caught hold of one of the poles erected for holding up the vines and tried to shake them. Shaking the pole vigourously, he bawled, ” Grrrrr… Fall you wretched grapes. Adamant vine, can’t you see I am hungry?”
When even the shaking did not work, the fox at last gave up and turned to leave. As he was going, he took a last look at the grapes hanging on the vines. To console himself, the disappointed fox cursed the grapes, “So what if I did not get to eat any? I’m sure those grapes are very sour.”
MORAL: What you don’t get need not be bad.
SweetNSourTamrind 