The Fox and the Grapes
Encyclopedia
"The Fox and the Grapes" is one of the traditional Aesop's fables
and can be held to illustrate the concept of cognitive dissonance
. In this view, the premise of the fox
that covets inaccessible grape
s is taken to stand for a person who attempts to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously. In that case, the disdain the fox expresses for the grapes at the conclusion to the fable serves at least to diminish the dissonance even if the behaviour in fact remains irrational.
. (Another example is The Cock and the Jewel
.) The Latin version of Phaedrus (IV.3) is terse and to the point.
In her version of Jean de La Fontaine
's retelling of the fable, 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 and there is a similar idiom in the Scandinavian countries
, but there the fox makes its comment about rowanberries since grapes are not common in northern latitude
s.
and Phaedrus and certainly contributed to the story's popularity. A century after its publication, this was the tale with which the sculptor Pierre Julien
chose to associate its creator in his statue of La Fontaine (commissioned in 1782), now in the Louvre
. The poet is represented in a famous episode of his life, when he was seen one morning by the Duchess of Bouillon
seated against a tree trunk meditating. When she passed the same spot that evening he was still there in exactly the same position. Julien has portrayed him in an ample cloak, with a gnarled tree on which a vine with grapes is climbing. On his knee is the manuscript of the poem; at his feet, a fox is seated on his hat with its paw on a leather-bound volume, looking up at him.
Gustave Doré
's illustration of the fable for the 1870 edition pictures a young man in a garden who is looking towards the steps to a mansion in the distance on which several young women are congregated. An older man is holding up his thumb and forefinger, indicating that they are only little girls. The meaning of this transposition to the human situation hinges on the double meaning of 'unripe' (vert) in French, which could also be used of a sexually immature female. From this emerges the story's subtext, of which a literal translation reads
There is the same sexual ambiguity in the Greek
of Babrius. The phrase there is "όμφακες εισίν" (omphakes eisin), the word omphax
having both the literal meaning of an unripe grape and the metaphorical usage of a girl not yet ripe for marriage.
by Aphra Behn
appearing in Francis Barlow
's illustrated edition of the fables (1687):
The second also accompanies an illustrated edition, in this case the work of Walter Crane
in Baby's Own Aesop (1887). Each fable has been reduced to a limerick
by W.J.Linton and is enclosed within the design. "The Fox and the Grapes" has been given the moral 'The grapes of disappointment are always sour' and runs as follows:
By comparison, the Phaedrus version has six pentameter
lines, of which two draw the moral and Gabriele Faerno
's Latin reworking has five lines and two more drawing the moral. Both Babrius and La Fontaine have eight, the latter using his final line to comment on the situation. Though the emblematist
Geoffrey Whitney
confines the story to four lines, he adds two more of personal application: 'So thou, that hunt'st for that thou longe hast mist,/ Still makes thy boast, thou maist if that thou list.'
The fable was also one that the French poet Isaac de Benserade
summed up in a single quatrain, not needing to go into much detail since his verses accompanied the hydraulic statue of it in the labyrinth of Versailles
. He can therefore afford a thoughful, moralising tone:
But Benserade then adds another quatrain, speculating on the fox's mental processes; finally it admits that the grapes really were ripe but 'what cannot be had, you speak of badly'.
, who was also artistic director at both the Beauvais
and the Gobelins tapestry works
. In consequence of this a series based on La Fontaine's fables designed by Oudry was produced by them during the 1740s and included "The Fox and the Grapes". These stayed in production for some forty years and were imitated by other factories in France and abroad, being used not just as wall hangings but for chair covers and other domestic purposes. Furniture craftsmen in France also used the fables as themes and took these with them when they emigrated. Among them was Martin Jugiez (d.1815), who had a workshop in the American city of Philadelphia where the still surviving Fox and Grapes chest of drawers was produced.
The Sèvres porcelain works used the fables on their china as well as reproducing Pierre's Julien's statue from a preliminary model in 1784, even before the finished product was exhibited. Another domestic use for the fable was as an architectural medallion on the outside of mansions, of which there is still an example dating from the turn of the 19th century on the Avenue Felix Fauré in Paris. A medallion of another kind, cast in bronze by Jean Vernon (1897–1975), was produced as part of his renowned series based on the fables in the 1930s. That of "The Fox and the Grapes" features two foxes scrambling up a trellis with what looks like more success than La Fontaine's creation.
There was as diverse a use of the fables in England and from as early a date. Principally this was on domestic china and includes a Chelsea candlestick (1750) and a Worcester jug (1754) in the 18th century; a Brownhills alphabet plate (1888) in the 19th century; and a collector's edition from the Knowles pottery (1988) in the 20th. Series based on Aesop's fables became popular for pictorial tiles towards the end the 19th century, of which Minton Hollins produced a particularly charming example illustrating "The Fox and the Grapes". On this a vixen is accompanied by her cubs, who make ineffectual leaps at the grapes while the mother contemplates them with her paws clasped behind her.
There have also been the following musical settings:
in 1922 and there was a French version by Marius O'Galop in 1923. 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
. It also figured in the series of Coca Cola cartoon adverts based on fables in 1953.
Aesop's Fables
Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
and can be held to illustrate the concept of cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
. In this view, the premise of the fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
that covets inaccessible grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s is taken to stand for a person who attempts to hold incompatible ideas simultaneously. In that case, the disdain the fox expresses for the grapes at the conclusion to the fable serves at least to diminish the dissonance even if the behaviour in fact remains irrational.
The fable
The fable of The Fox and the Grapes is one of a number which feature only a single animal protagonistProtagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
. (Another example is The Cock and the Jewel
The Cock and the Jewel
The Cock and the Jewel is a fable attributed to Aesop. It is one of a number that feature only a single animal. As a trope in literature, the fable is reminiscent of stories used in zen such as the kōan...
.) The Latin version of Phaedrus (IV.3) 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 Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
's retelling of the fable, Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...
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
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
sour grapes
Sour grapes
The phrase sour grapes is an expression originating from "The Fox and the Grapes," one of Aesop's Fables. It refers to pretending not to care for something one does not or cannot have.Sour grapes may also refer to:-Music:...
which develops from the story is now often used also of envious disparagement to others. Similar expressions exist in other languages and there is a similar idiom in the Scandinavian countries
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
, but there the fox makes its comment about rowanberries since grapes are not common in northern latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...
s.
La Fontaine's Le Renard et les Raisins
The French fable of La Fontaine (III.11) is almost as concise and pointed as the early versions of BabriusBabrius
Babrius was the author of a collection of fables written in Greek. He collected many of the fables that are known to us today simply as Aesop's fables .Practically nothing is known of him...
and Phaedrus and certainly contributed to the story's popularity. A century after its publication, this was the tale with which the sculptor Pierre Julien
Pierre Julien
Pierre Julien was a French sculptor who worked in a full range of rococo and neoclassical styles.He served an early apprenticeship at Le Puy-en-Velay, near his natal village of Saint-Paulien, then at the École de dessin of Lyon, then entered the Parisian atelier of Guillaume Coustou the Younger...
chose to associate its creator in his statue of La Fontaine (commissioned in 1782), now in the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
. The poet is represented in a famous episode of his life, when he was seen one morning by the Duchess of Bouillon
Marie Anne Mancini
Marie Anne Mancini, duchesse de Bouillon , was the youngest of the five famous Mancini sisters, who along with two of their female Martinozzi cousins, were known at the court of King Louis XIV of France as the Mazarinettes because their uncle was the king's chief minister, Cardinal...
seated against a tree trunk meditating. When she passed the same spot that evening he was still there in exactly the same position. Julien has portrayed him in an ample cloak, with a gnarled tree on which a vine with grapes is climbing. On his knee is the manuscript of the poem; at his feet, a fox is seated on his hat with its paw on a leather-bound volume, looking up at him.
Gustave Doré
Gustave Doré
Paul Gustave Doré was a French artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor. Doré worked primarily with wood engraving and steel engraving.-Biography:...
's illustration of the fable for the 1870 edition pictures a young man in a garden who is looking towards the steps to a mansion in the distance on which several young women are congregated. An older man is holding up his thumb and forefinger, indicating that they are only little girls. The meaning of this transposition to the human situation hinges on the double meaning of 'unripe' (vert) in French, which could also be used of a sexually immature female. From this emerges the story's subtext, of which a literal translation reads
-
-
-
- The gallant would gladly have made a meal of them
- But as he was unable to succeed, says he:
- 'They are unripe and only fit for green boys.'
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-
There is the same sexual ambiguity in the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
of Babrius. The phrase there is "όμφακες εισίν" (omphakes eisin), the word omphax
Omphax
Omphax is a genus of moth in the family Geometridae.-References:*...
having both the literal meaning of an unripe grape and the metaphorical usage of a girl not yet ripe for marriage.
Concise translations
Many translations, whether of Aesop's fable or of La Fontaine's, are wordy and often add details not sanctioned by the original. Two English authors have produced short poetical versions which still retain both the general lines of the story and its lesson. The first of these is a quatrainQuatrain
A quatrain is a stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines of verse. Existing in various forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and China; and, continues into the 21st century, where it is...
by Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...
appearing in Francis Barlow
Francis Barlow
Francis Barlow may refer to:*Francis Barlow , British painter, etcher, and illustrator*Francis C. Barlow , US lawyer, politician, and general-See also:*Frank Barlow...
's illustrated edition of the fables (1687):
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- The fox who longed for grapes, beholds with pain
- The tempting clusters were too high to gain;
- Grieved in his heart he forced a careless smile,
- And cried ,‘They’re sharp and hardly worth my while.’
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The second also accompanies an illustrated edition, in this case the work of Walter Crane
Walter Crane
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of...
in Baby's Own Aesop (1887). Each fable has been reduced to a limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
by W.J.Linton and is enclosed within the design. "The Fox and the Grapes" has been given the moral 'The grapes of disappointment are always sour' and runs as follows:
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- This Fox has a longing for grapes:
- He jumps, but the bunch still escapes.
- So he goes away sour;
- And, 'tis said, to this hour
- Declares that he's no taste for grapes.
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By comparison, the Phaedrus version has six pentameter
Pentameter
Pentameter may refer to:*the iambic pentameter of the modern period*the dactylic pentameter of antiquity...
lines, of which two draw the moral and Gabriele Faerno
Gabriele Faerno
Gabriele Faerno, also known by his Latin name of Faernus Cremonensis, was born in Cremona about 1510 and died in Rome on November 17, 1561. He was a scrupulous scholar and an elegant Latin poet who is best known now for his collection of Aesop's Fables in Latin verse.-Life:Gabriele Faerno was born...
's Latin reworking has five lines and two more drawing the moral. Both Babrius and La Fontaine have eight, the latter using his final line to comment on the situation. Though the emblematist
Emblem book
Emblem books are a category of mainly didactic illustrated book printed in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, typically containing a number of emblematic images with explanatory text....
Geoffrey Whitney
Geoffrey Whitney
Geoffrey Whitney was an English poet, now best known for the influence on Elizabethan writing of the Choice of Emblemes that he compiled.-Life:...
confines the story to four lines, he adds two more of personal application: 'So thou, that hunt'st for that thou longe hast mist,/ Still makes thy boast, thou maist if that thou list.'
The fable was also one that the French poet Isaac de Benserade
Isaac de Benserade
Isaac de Benserade was a French poet.Born in Lyons-la-Forêt in the Province of Normandy, his family appears to have been connected with Richelieu, who bestowed on him a pension of 600 livres. He began his literary career with the tragedy of Cléopâtre , which was followed by four other pieces...
summed up in a single quatrain, not needing to go into much detail since his verses accompanied the hydraulic statue of it in the labyrinth of Versailles
The labyrinth of Versailles
The labyrinth of Versailles was a maze in the Gardens of Versailles with groups of fountains and sculptures depicting Aesop's fables. André Le Nôtre initially planned a maze of unadorned paths in 1665, but in 1669, Charles Perrault, advised Louis XIV to include thirty-nine fountains each...
. He can therefore afford a thoughful, moralising tone:
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- Pleasures are dear and difficult to get.
- Feasting the eye, fat grapes hung in the arbour,
- That the fox could not reach, for all his labour,
- And leaving them declared, they're not ripe yet.
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But Benserade then adds another quatrain, speculating on the fox's mental processes; finally it admits that the grapes really were ripe but 'what cannot be had, you speak of badly'.
Artistic uses
One of La Fontaine's early illustrators was the artist Jean-Baptiste OudryJean-Baptiste Oudry
Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a French Rococo painter, engraver, and tapestry designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game.-Biography:...
, who was also artistic director at both the Beauvais
Beauvais tapestry
The Beauvais tapestry manufacture was the second in importance, after the Gobelins tapestry, of French tapestry workshops that were established under the general direction of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister of Louis XIV...
and the Gobelins tapestry works
Gobelins manufactory
The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France, at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement...
. In consequence of this a series based on La Fontaine's fables designed by Oudry was produced by them during the 1740s and included "The Fox and the Grapes". These stayed in production for some forty years and were imitated by other factories in France and abroad, being used not just as wall hangings but for chair covers and other domestic purposes. Furniture craftsmen in France also used the fables as themes and took these with them when they emigrated. Among them was Martin Jugiez (d.1815), who had a workshop in the American city of Philadelphia where the still surviving Fox and Grapes chest of drawers was produced.
The Sèvres porcelain works used the fables on their china as well as reproducing Pierre's Julien's statue from a preliminary model in 1784, even before the finished product was exhibited. Another domestic use for the fable was as an architectural medallion on the outside of mansions, of which there is still an example dating from the turn of the 19th century on the Avenue Felix Fauré in Paris. A medallion of another kind, cast in bronze by Jean Vernon (1897–1975), was produced as part of his renowned series based on the fables in the 1930s. That of "The Fox and the Grapes" features two foxes scrambling up a trellis with what looks like more success than La Fontaine's creation.
There was as diverse a use of the fables in England and from as early a date. Principally this was on domestic china and includes a Chelsea candlestick (1750) and a Worcester jug (1754) in the 18th century; a Brownhills alphabet plate (1888) in the 19th century; and a collector's edition from the Knowles pottery (1988) in the 20th. Series based on Aesop's fables became popular for pictorial tiles towards the end the 19th century, of which Minton Hollins produced a particularly charming example illustrating "The Fox and the Grapes". On this a vixen is accompanied by her cubs, who make ineffectual leaps at the grapes while the mother contemplates them with her paws clasped behind her.
There have also been the following musical settings:
- Charles Lecocq, the first of his Six Fables de Jean de la Fontaine for voice and piano
- Mario Versepuy (1882-1972) for voice and piano (1921)
- Andre Asriel, the fourth of his 6 Fabeln nach Aesop for mixed a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
voices (in German). - Ned RoremNed RoremNed Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist. He is best known and most praised for his song settings.-Life:...
, one of the 'five very short operas' in his Fables (1971). A setting of Marianne Moore's translation of La Fontaine, this segment is more a cantata for chorus of two and tenor soloist (representing the fox); its action is all in the programmatic music. - Bob ChilcottBob ChilcottRobert "Bob" Chilcott is a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, based in Oxford, England.Born in Plymouth, Chilcott sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, both as a boy and as a university student. He performed the Pie Jesu of Fauré's Requiem on the 1967 recording. In 1985 he...
, among the five English translations in his Aesop's Fables for piano and choir (2008). - Lefteris Kordis, the eighth of nine compositions for octet and voice in his "Aesop Project" (2010)
Cartoon versions
The fable was made into an animated short by Aesop's Film FablesAesop's Film Fables
Aesop's Film Fables was a series of animated short subjects, created by American cartoonist Paul Terry. Terry came upon the inspiration for the series by young actor-turned-writer Howard Estabrook, who suggested making a series of cartoons based on Aesop's Fables. Although Terry later claimed he...
in 1922 and there was a French version by Marius O'Galop in 1923. Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin, born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, also known as Tish Tash or Frank Tash was an American animator, screenwriter, and film director.-Animator:...
adapted the tale into a 1941 Color Rhapsodies
Color Rhapsodies
Color Rhapsodies was a series of usually one-shot animated cartoon shorts produced by Charles Mintz for Columbia Pictures. They were launched in 1934, following the phenomenal success of Walt Disney's Technicolor Silly Symphonies...
short for Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
/Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
. The Fox and the Grapes marked the first appearance of Screen Gems' most popular characters, The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow
The Fox and the Crow are a pair of anthropomorphic cartoon characters created by Frank Tashlin for the Screen Gems studio. The characters, the refined but gullible Fauntleroy Fox and the streetwise Crawford Crow, appeared in a series of animated short subjects released by Screen Gems through its...
. It also figured in the series of Coca Cola cartoon adverts based on fables in 1953.
See also
- Aesop's FablesAesop's FablesAesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today...
- Argument from silenceArgument from silenceThe argument from silence is generally a conclusion based on silence of opponent, failing to give evidence. In the field of classical studies, it often refers to the deduction from the lack of references to a subject in the available writings of an author to the conclusion that he was ignorant of it...
, a logical fallacy - Cognitive dissonanceCognitive dissonanceCognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
- Rationalization (psychology)Rationalization (psychology)In psychology and logic, rationalization is an unconscious defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors or feelings are logically justified and explained in a rational or logical manner in order to avoid any true explanation and made consciously tolerable by plausible means...
External links
- 15th-20th century illustrations from books
- Another set of illustrations
- Elster, Jon: "Sour Grapes: Studies in the Subversion of Rationality" at Google Books
- Aesop's fables applied to business and management