Green Grapes 65

pleasant. Yet we are always desiring a
change. Perhaps it was as much _ the
thought of the black grapes I had eaten in
early days as of the comfort of this old
hole in which I was born, that led me in
the end to leave the country. I had lost
my mate, and the children she had borne
me had gone away from their home—per-
haps you are the son of my son’s son—and
so I came back.’

“Thus the old fox talked to the young,
‘telling him many strange things that hap-
pened commonly in the far land from which
he had returned. But the younger one,
when at last the sun sank and he went
about his own business, remembered chiefly
the tale of those grapes which were ripe
when: they were green, and of their wonder-
ful sweetness. There were reasons why he
could not leave the valley, and, to tell the
truth, he was a little bit of a coward and
lacked the courage to do as the old
fox had done and go away to find the
sweet green grapes for himself. But he

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