The Fox And The Grapes Story For Children With Moral (2024)

Do you remember those days when as a child, you would be amazed reading animal stories with a moral? Such stories with animals as protagonists are always fun to read and are very easy to learn new lessons, mainly if they involve vivid pictures. One such example is The Fox and the Grapes full story. It encourages children to read, learn and understand real-life morals from a very young age. And that’s not all! It also aids in their mental development. These animal characters form a lasting impression on children, and every time they are faced with a similar situation in life, they immediately relate it to the story character.

The story of the fox and grapes is also one such story. This is a popular story from the Aesop’s Fables numbered 15 in the Perry Index. There have been several other retellings of this concise story, each maintaining the same message.

Origin And History Of The Fox And The Grapes

The Fox and the Grapes story was first written (or more probably narrated) by the Greek storyteller Aesop in the 6th Century B.C. This short story then went on to hold a significant position in literary culture all over the world. The final version of this story as we know it today was translated in 1912 by V.S. Vernon Jones.

Story Type Of The Fox And The Grapes

The Fox and the Grapes is a fable and is part of the well-known and much-loved Aesop’s Fables. The story uses the character of a fox to teach an important moral which children can learn to apply in their lives. The depth and understanding in the tale makes it timeless and age-less, as even adults can do well to remember these lessons every now and then when faced with moral dilemmas.

Story Characters

This story has just one character – the fox. The grape-vine is the personification of an unattainable goal or a difficulty that the fox faces. It is the way in which the fox deals with this difficulty and his attitude towards it, that makes for this story and the lesson it inspires.

The Fox And The Grapes Story For Children

On a hot summer’s day, a fox was happily strolling along on his way. He suddenly came across a grape orchard. This caught his attention as he had forgotten his packed lunch at home! He looked up and saw the most delicious-looking bunch of purple grapes, ripe and ready to be eaten. The grapes were just there, hanging from the vine and enticing him. The grapes looked juicy, and the fox’s mouth started to water as he felt hungrier and thirstier.

“Oh wow, I must have these delicious grapes for myself!” he said to himself, “I shall fill my hungry belly with the juicy grapes!”

But there was a problem. The bunch of purple grapes were hanging from a branch so high up that it looked difficult to reach. So, the fox took a few paces behind, came running fast ahead and jumped up to reach it. But, alas, he failed to jump high enough and missed the grapes by a long way. So, he tried again. He took more steps back, came running faster and jumped higher. He went up but not high enough, and his furry paw narrowly missed the grapes. He tried one last time and missed again.

Now he was tired, hot, parched, hungry, and angry. He took a break and sat below the grape vines. He looked up at the grapes in disgust.

He muttered to himself, “Such a fool I am”. “What was I thinking tiring myself out jumping up and down like crazy on such a hot day like this? And that too, just to reach a bunch of spoilt, old, horrible and sour grapes?”

So, the fox got up, gave up, made an angry face and walked off.

Story Summary

The summary of the story The Fox and the Grapes is as follows:

During a scorching summer, there was a fox who came upon a grape orchard. He saw a bunch of purple grapes hanging from a branch that was pretty high. His mouth started watering, and he thought about the grapes to quench his thirst. He took a few steps behind, ran ahead, and launched himself in the air to catch the grapes. But he missed. He turned around and tried again, but he didn’t succeed. He gave it one final try and failed to reach the juicy grapes. He then gave up and walked away, complaining that the grapes were too sour, so it didn’t matter. He was not inspired to try harder to reach the grapes, so he made an excuse by saying that the grapes were never good enough. This response shows the poor attitude of the fox and his lack of motivation, coupled with his lack of integrity.

Moral Of The Story

The fable has an interesting moral. The moral is – It is very simple to despise what you cannot achieve or get your hands on.

How Can Children Apply The Moral In Their Real Life?

This short story with pictures teaches us that though it is easy to dislike something that’s out of reach, we shouldn’t give up. We can only build our true strength by fighting till the end and till we succeed. Another important takeaway from this story is that we shouldn’t talk ill or complain about others when we face rejection. We should also learn to accept defeat with grace and learn from our failures. Children may come across people who say something bad about a difficult task. However, they should learn not to accept such opinions from everyone, but try on their own and form their own opinions. This is an important lesson and children must never forget this.

Also Read:

The Hidden Treasure Moral Story for Children
Pinocchio Story for Kids with Moral
Snow White and Seven Dwarfs Story for Kids