Fox and the Grapes, The

DESCRIPTION: "A hungry fox one day did spy Some rich ripe grapes that hung so high And to him they seemed to say, 'If you can get us down, you may.'" After an hour of trying, the fox admits failure, "Then he went away, and he swore that the grapes were sour."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Purslow-MarrowBones)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) US(NE) Canada(Ont,West)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Purslow-MarrowBones, p. 83, "Sour Grapes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, p. 247, "The Fox and the Grapes" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, p. 479, "The Fox and the Grapes" (source notes only)
ST GC479a (Full)
Roud #3713
RECORDINGS:
Wellington Thompson, "A Hungry Fox" (on Saskatch01)
NOTES [57 words]: This is, of course, a retelling of Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes"; Cass-Beggs also refers to Maria Edgeworth's 1833 book of instructive stories for children, although she isn't clear about whether this story is there. She notes that [Welllington] Thompson reported learning the song as a small boy in Ontario (he was born in 1866). - PJS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: GC479a

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography