The Fox and the Grapes

One day, Fox was strolling along near the end of the woods when he spotted a large grape vine with a bunch of freshly ripened grapes on a high branch.  “What a delightful treat for me!” thought the Fox.  He jumped for the branch, but could not quite reach it.  He continued to repeatedly jump and miss the grapes.  Fox did this so many times that he exhausted himself and had to give up.  As he slowly made his way away from the grape vine, he could be heard muttering to himself. “They were probably ruined and sour anyway.”

Moral of the Fable:  It is easy to hate what you cannot acquire.

The Crow and the Pitcher

A Crow was literally dying of thirst when he came upon a large pitcher.  The Crow delightedly flew to the Pitcher hoping to find it full of water.  Once there, he was disappointed to find that even though it had water in it, he could not reach the water with his beak.   He tried and tried to no avail.  Finally he had an idea.  Using his beak, he carefully gathered pebbles and dropped them in the Pitcher.  Gradually the water rose in the Pitcher and he was able to drink it.  He had saved his own life.

Moral of the Fable: Necessity if the mother of all inventions.