Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

Many of our favorite English expressions have their origins in the fables of Aesop, the Greek storyteller from the 6th C. BC, who wove tales of talking animals -- each of them with a moral for human listeners or readers. Over the centuries, Aesop's simple parables have engendered such verbal formulas as a wolf in sheep's clothing, the lion's share, and don't count your chickens before they're hatched.

The expression sour grapes, accounting for the behavior of one who pretends to despise what he can't have, comes from the fable of the Fox and the Grapes, which Aesop tells like this:

A hungry fox, spying a cluster of grapes hanging high on a vine, did her best to leap in the air and snap up the fruit. After many failed attempts, the fox was tired and panting and still hungry. Collecting her dignity, she walked away from the vine, saying, "I thought those grapes were ripe and juicy, but now I see they're too sour to eat."

Sour grapes, indeed!

Radio Script > Sour Grapes