Aesop Cover

The Despise of Failure – No. 11. The Fox and the Grapes – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Adopted by Steve Jobs.

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A Fox saw a bunch of plump grapes hanging from a vine, making his mouth water. The Fox was hungry and desired to eat those grapes so badly. He had to have them!

But, alas, the grapes were high above. The Fox tried and tried to reach the grapes, jumping over and over again unsuccessfully, until he was finally exhausted, giving up.

As he walked away, the Fox said with scorn, “I didn’t really want those grapes! Those grapes were sour anyway!

Moral of the Story: People who fail tend to despise the thing they first desired. Despise is oft evidence of latent injury. Jealousy evidences inadequacy.

“People throw rocks at things that shine.” ~Taylor Swift

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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue

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Why We Loved It: This fable is the origin of the common phrase,sour grapes,” indicating new scorn by someone for something the person desired that the person failed to attain.

This condition often manifests in a manner set forth in The Mean Insult v. The Tactical Insult. For example, meanly insulting the attributes of a former partner who was once “perfect.” [1] We notice that, to say that the grapes were “sour,” is in the nature of an ex post facto condemnation or insult.

The phrase is most often used by an onlooker as a psychological condemnation of another, likening the situation to the Fox’s failure followed by the insult of the grapes; to wit: “Well, it sure sounds like ‘sour grapes’ to me. She kept telling us her ex-boyfriend was perfect and ‘the one’ when she dated him, but now, after he broke up with her, he’s weak, stupid, ugly and broke!”

This fable is a lesson in basic psychology, and a corollary to A Fox Without a Tail [2, 3] reminding us about ourselves and others. That is: a human being tends to scorn a desired but unattainable thing by self protection by dismissing the subject’s value. The insult is a psychological transference.

For ourselves, we need to catch ourselves from this flaw of nature, and, when observed in others, to consider the real causation. Many people do not know how to observe it in self or others, but, for those who do, it is insightful power into human nature. [4]

Controlling it in self prevents disclosure of hidden thinking to others, seeing it in others provides insight into their hidden thinking, and desires. Thus, the adage, “Narrat expressio.” (“Telling tells.”). The concept is often said in the formative that a statement discloses more about the speaker than it does about the subject.

Indeed, Master Shakespeare read his Aesop. Behold all the complex psychology within the simple exposition from the glorious Hamlet:

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

So it is with the lady, so it is with the Fox, so it is with us.

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[1] Donald Trump; Or, The Mean Insult v. The Tactical Insult [#GRZ_108]

[2] The Insecure Human Being – The Business of Aesop™ No. 51 – A Fox Without a Tail [#GRZ_36]

[3] Misery Loves Company – No. 51. The Fox Without A Tail – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series [#GRZ_98_51]

[4] Whom the Gods Would Destroy, They First Tease with Political Incorrectness [#GRZ_74]


© 2013 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. and Arnold Zegarelli. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.

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