One hot afternoon, a hungry fox was walking through a garden. Suddenly he saw a bunch of ripe, juicy grapes hanging from a vine high above his head. “Those grapes look delicious,” he said. “They are just what I need.”
The fox stepped back, ran and jumped as high as he could, but he could not reach the grapes. He tried again and again, jumping higher each time, but the grapes were always just out of his reach.
At last the fox was tired and hot. He sat down and looked up at the grapes for a long time. Then he turned up his nose and walked away. “Those grapes are sour anyway,” he said. “I don’t want them.”
Of course, the grapes were not sour at all. The fox only said so because he could not get them. This story gave English the phrase “sour grapes”: when someone says that something is not good only because they cannot have it, we call it sour grapes.
Moral of the story
It is easy to say we never wanted what we cannot get.
New words
- ripe
- ready to eat
- juicy
- full of juice
- vine
- a climbing plant
- reach
- to touch something by stretching
- sour
- sharp in taste, like a lemon
- delicious
- very tasty
Questions and answers
- Where was the fox walking?
Show answer
He was walking through a garden.
- What did the fox see?
Show answer
He saw a bunch of ripe, juicy grapes hanging from a vine.
- Why could the fox not eat the grapes?
Show answer
The grapes were too high, and he could not reach them.
- What did the fox say as he walked away?
Show answer
He said, “Those grapes are sour anyway. I don’t want them.”
- Were the grapes really sour?
Show answer
No. He said so only because he could not get them.
- What do we mean when we say “sour grapes”?
Show answer
We mean pretending that something we could not get was not worth having.
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More reading practice
Try an unseen passage for Class 3, Class 4 or Class 5, or learn how to answer comprehension questions.
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