The Fox and the Grapes by Millie Williams (c) 2007

Great Aunt Micah was on the move. Everyone was alert to this, as it was evening and she was usually busy with her early evening nap. Great Aunt Micah had achieved the venerable age of 15 and was still going pretty strong, was able to see and hear and even would frisk across the front lawn when the Emperor came home from his travels. Although she did sleep a lot, she remained alert and bright and everyone at the Castle was thankful for that.

But being up so early in the evening was not something she usually did.

It had been drizzly all day, and the weekly evening campfire had been cancelled. This was a time when all the corgis and human residents of the Castle gathered together to play, to talk and to eat marshmallows and tell stories. This is how many of the traditions were passed down at Kallista, by word of mouth and story telling. The puppies were especially disappointed; although they always got a bedtime story and sometimes two if they weren’t asleep by the end of the first one, the stories told by the campfire could be told by anyone, corgi or human, as well as the added treat of having a marshmallow, gooey and soft, to nibble on. Puppies were always being carted off to their beds with sticky paws and whiskers.

Great Aunt Micah circled the Great Hall and gazed out one or two of the windows, then headed for the fireplace. A Royal Footman saw her approaching and placed a large velvet pillow in her favorite spot off to the side of it. Several puppies approached and lay nearby for whatever was to come. For Great Aunt Micah kept all the tales in her head, and was the best story teller of all. The Lady-In-Waiting saw what was happening and asked the Footman to please begin a fire, and he did so. When it was crackling and popping, there were more corgis, other animals, and humans coming close. Everyone found a comfortable place on the floor or in someone’s lap. At least 7 corgis occupied one sofa and waited patiently. At last, the Royal Chef slipped in with a tub of freshly baked carob cookies and some sliced apples and the plates were passed around to everyone. Finally, when all was ready, Great Aunt Micah began her tale.

"Let me see, now. What tale have I not told you?” she began, and everyone thought hard. They had heard so many stories from her through the years and so many got better in the re telling. Great Aunt Micah brightened. “I know…I will tell you the story of the Fox and the Grapes.”

“This all happened long before I was a puppy” she began and one of the precocious puppies began to wiggle and burst out “Aunt Micah, you aren’t telling it right!” Everyone stopped and looked at the puppy and several said “shush” and her mother got up to silence her. Great Aunt Micah looked at the puppy and motioned for everyone to sit back down.

“It’s all right” she said. Then to the puppy “But how shall I start the story?”

The puppy said “It’s supposed to start out ‘Once upon a time’”. Great Aunt Micah laughed and everyone joined in.

“And you are so right, child. Yes, that is how it is to begin. Once upon a time……”

There was a fox who lived in the woods. This was near to a large castle that contained a curious mix of residents. There were humans and corgis and all kinds of animals. In the barn lived crows and horses and goats and chickens. There were animals coming and going all the time, for it was a busy and happy place and everyone enjoyed visiting at the Castle.

The fox had gone to watch the residents many times, but being a fox, was too shy to approach the Castle. She watched the baby corgis playing and thought it might be nice to play with them, too. She looked at the chickens and thought about chicken dinners. But she was too shy to try and catch one. And she had heard that there was an agreement with the wild ones of the woods to leave the chickens alone, and the Castle would provide an egg to any who asked for one. This was stealing and it was discouraged and no one was upset because eggs or chickens had been taken. But she was too shy to ask for an egg, either.

The shy fox was known as Autumn. Her mother had named her that because of the rich redness of her coat. And she was a pretty fox, but very solitary and because of being on her own so much, she was also a little bit selfish and had not learned many manners.

One day Autumn was walking in the woods, searching for things to eat. She had had a few raspberries, a mushroom or two and had caught a mouse. It had not been a bad day at all for finding things to eat. She just happened to glance over and saw something interesting. She investigated and found a wonderful new berry she had never seen before! The berry was a cluster of grapes! For somehow a grape seed had taken root at the base of a very large tree and had grown up part way. When she looked again, she discovered that there were several clusters of the grapes. She gracefully hopped up and plucked one to try. It was sweet and it was juicy! She leapt up many more times until she had all that she wanted. But there were so many more! She didn’t know what to do about this food bonanza that she had found. Autumn looked around and to her delight found a large log that had been hollowed out. She busied herself for the next few hours, gathering dry leaves and making a comfortable bed within the log. Then she dragged sticks and branches over and made a small fence around the tree and the log. After all, this was her territory now, and her home and her grapevine.

All summer long, the grapevine continued to grow and produce grapes. Although Autumn continued to hunt and forage, she always knew that if she could not find enough to eat, there would always be sweet grapes for her to eat.

One day an old crow flew down and sat on a branch. He said “Madame Fox, you have lovely grapes. May I share in your bounty?”

The shy fox was terribly upset. She did not like others to come around and she growled and said “No! Go away!”

The old crow looked at her for a moment and then said “Thank you for your hospitality” and flew away. He was a very polite crow and did not know how else to deal with the rudeness he had been shown.

A few days later, a squirrel came partway down the tree and said “I was passing through and saw your lovely grapes. May I take some to my babies who live four trees over?”

Autumn was once again rude and shouted “No! Go away!”

The squirrel looked sadly at the grapes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. My children would have loved to have grapes for dessert tonight” and then she left.




On another day, a possum was walking slowly by. “Oh, look! Grapes! That is my favorite food and I haven’t had any in such a long time. May I have a few?” he asked of the selfish fox.

Autumn was really getting quite tired of everyone wanting her grapes. “No! Go away!”

The possum looked surprised but gathered himself and went on his way with a polite “Good Day!” to Autumn, who at least had the manners to wait until he was out of sight before muttering “Good riddance” to herself.

As the summer went on, the grape vine climbed higher and higher into the tree. Autumn was soon unable to get up high enough to get the grapes and the ones that fell to the earth were sour and not good at all. She tried to put them in a little pile in case some other animal wanted them. But the crow, who flew over several times a day, ignored them. The squirrel and her babies ventured over to see them but after sniffing them delicately, left them alone. She never saw the possum again.

As Fall approached, there was less and less to eat. Autumn was getting thin and didn’t know what to do. She had eaten all the berries and there were no mushrooms. The mice had all gotten very clever and she rarely had a mouse dinner anymore. Her beautiful coat was lackluster and dull. She had little energy and sat for hours in her log, looking at the grapevine, full of beautiful grapes and wondering how she could get them down.

One day she had an idea! She would go to the Castle and ask to use a ladder. Maybe someone would bring it out. But then they would want some of the grapes and she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to give any away. She dithered about the decision for a long time. Finally she made up her mind to go to the Castle.

When she got the grounds, she gathered up the courage she had and marched over to the back door, which was the kitchen door. Barking her high pitched little fox bark, she said “Hello! Is anyone home?” Almost instantaneously, a large man dressed all in white came to the screen door.

“Hello, little fox. Would you like an egg?”

Now this puzzled Autumn. She had come for a ladder but instead was being offered food. She thought she may as well take it, she was hungry and an egg sounded good.

“Yes!” she barked and forgot to add “please”. The man looked thoughtful and left the door, returning in a moment with two eggs as well as some bread.

“I thought you might like one for later on,” he remarked, looking at her ragged coatt.

Autumn looked at the feast which would last her for two days. She didn’t know what to say.

“You are welcome to come any time” said the nice man, and went back inside.

Autumn forgot all about the ladder and took the eggs and the bread to her den. They did last for two days and then she was hungry again. She went to the kitchen door again to ask for a ladder. This time the old crow was sitting on the edge of the roof. “I heard you came looking for eggs,” he said. “But you should mind your manners when asking.”

Autumn looked at him curiously, as she had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?” she asked.

The crow ruffled his feathers and said “You should always say please when you are asking for something” and flew off.

So the fox did. And this time the large man in white smiled broadly but then frowned slightly when she took the egg and ran off with it.





The next time was easier for the fox. But this time the squirrel was there, and had gathered a cheek full of nuts to take to her babies. Through the nuts, she mumbled “Thank you!” to the man and ran for the trees. The man smiled broadly and raised his hand to wave goodbye. He saw Autumn and smiled and she asked him please for an egg. He smiled again and gave her an egg and a piece of bacon, too. Autumn had never had anything as good as the piece of bacon and decided that she should say “thank you” in appreciation and she did. The man smiled again and Autumn liked the feeling she had when he smiled at her. She went back to her log and thought a long time.

Then the next time she went to ask for something to eat, the Possum was there. He saw her coming and when she got close, he said “I know the man has been giving you food and you have been polite. But it’s good to say ‘I’m sorry’, too, when you need to.” The possum got his apple and waddled off and the man gave the fox an egg and a chicken wing. She said “thank you” and went back to the den and ate and thought about many things. She couldn’t figure out why everyone was so nice to her and even nicer when she said certain things.

But she still needed to get those grapes down. So back to the Castle she went, and this time she approached a man who was trimming a bush.

“Please, sir” she barked at him. “Will you help me get my grapes down from the tree?” Fortunately this was a Footman who was fluent in Fox and he found a ladder and some baskets and came with her to the tree. She showed him the beautiful grapevine and the grapes that were just too high for her to leap up and get. Carefully, he set the ladder against the tree and went up and began to pick grapes and put them in the basket. And how many grapes there were! The man had to make several trips back to the Castle to get more baskets, so many that the man at the kitchen door who had given Autumn the eggs came along on one trip. Both men marveled at the bounty of the tree.

When they were done, there were a dozen large baskets of grapes and still more in the tree. Autumn could not believe how many there were. She had been thinking since the men had been picking. Finally she said to the men “Sirs! Would you like to have some of my grapes? For you have been friendly and kind to me and I want to share with you what I have.” At this the man in white beamed.

“Why, thank you, little fox! That is very generous of you. I know the Emperor of the Castle is very fond of grape jelly and I would dearly love to make him some from these very sweet grapes.” Then he thought a moment and said “As a matter of fact, I would like to arrange a trade with you. How about if we take the grapes and make sure you have enough to eat all winter?”

The little fox was stunned. How nice they were, and how generous! She loved the grapes but frankly, she had been getting a little bit tired of grapes for so many meals. So the bargain was set. And in the end, the fox learned some manners and learned to share, the crow and the squirrel babies and the possum all got some grapes as well as those residents of the Castle, and the fox was able to eat well all through the long Winter. And because she ate well, she grew a beautiful coat and was able to stay warm, too.”



Great Aunt Micah looked around the room. “Can anyone tell me what they have learned from this story?”

Several pups stood up to say things like “It is good to always share what you have”, or “You should be kind to everyone no matter what”, or “It is good to have friends who care about you”. Great Aunt Micah was pleased. For all of these lessons had been evident in her story and she was glad that the pups had learned so well.

And then it was time for bed and so the rest of the animals and humans all bid each other good night and a pleasant sleep. And so passed another day at the Castle in the woods.