Green Grapes 69

to be. The wall was a high one, and
he could not get at the beautiful green
grapes. He could not even find a way
into the vineyard and eat the other fruit
of the same vine. But he did not mind
eating the black ones now, for when he
had taken food enough he would come
along the quiet road and look at the things
he had desired so long and found at last.
‘They are green!’ he would whisper to
himself. ‘Beautiful green grapes, how
sweet you will be when I have thought
of a plan by which to get you.’

“If the grapes had known why he came
and looked at them, and how much he
thought of them, I verily believe they
would have fallen of their own. accord.
But their ignorance did not matter. The
fox desired them so much, he could not
doubt that they would some day be his.
In the meantime he found it good to desire
them.

“The good was of many kinds. The
other foxes seemed to think that the only