The Fox and the Grapes
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Fox and the Grapes is a fable attributed to Aesop. It is one of a number which feature only a single animal protagonist. (Other examples include The Cock and the Jewel.) A fox, upon failing to find a way to reach grapes hanging high up on a vine, retreated and said: "The grapes are sour anyway!"
Frank Tashlin adapted the tale into a 1941 Color Rhapsodies short for Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures. The Fox and the Grapes marked the first appearance of Screen Gems' most popular characters, The Fox and the Crow. The Electric Company adapted the fable as one of the "Very Short Book" series; in only a few pages and words it sums up the fable exactly as written, with the fox saying "I'll bet they're sour!"
The fable illustrates the concept of cognitive dissonance, which occurs when a person tries to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously. Dissonance is reduced by altering one of the belief or desire states, even if it leads to irrational behavior.
The fable
The fable of The Fox and the Grapes is one of a number which feature only a single animal protagonist. There are several Greek versions as well as one in Latin by Phaedrus (IV.3) which is terse and to the point:
- Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes.' People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves.
In her version of La Fontaine's Fables, Marianne Moore underlines his ironical comment on the situation in a final pun, "Better, I think, than an embittered whine". Although the fable describes purely subjective behaviour, the English idiom sour grapes which develops from the story is now often used also of envious disparagement to others. Similar expressions exist in other languages, but in the Scandinavian equivalent the fox makes its comment about rowanberries since grapes are not common in northern latitudes.
See also
