Other Literature/History - Foxes don't even eat grapes, do they?

Discussion in 'General' started by boiled_elephant, 20 Feb 2009.

  1. boiled_elephant

    boiled_elephant Merom Celeron 4 lyfe

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    There seems to have been a popular historical notion of foxes eating grapes, and/or sneaking into vineyards much as they are thought to sneak into chicken pens today. The two sources I have for this so far are Song of Songs:
    and, more famously, Aesop's fable of the sour grapes (wikipedia article), which details a fox going to eat some grapes, finding them to be out of reach, and declaring them "sour anyway".

    So the thing is, do foxes eat grapes at all? I can't imagine they do - but for this to crop up twice, such a specific combination of animal and food, it must have been a cornerstone of public consciousness at some point in history (like eggs falling off walls and ****). Does anyone know if this is the case, and why it was?
     
  2. fathazza

    fathazza Freed on Probation

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    dunno about grapes....

    but i have seen a fox standing on its hindlegs eating plums direct from the tree :)
     
  3. Angleus

    Angleus What's a Dremel?

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  4. fathazza

    fathazza Freed on Probation

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    boiled_elephant likes this.
  5. cpemma

    cpemma Ecky thump

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    Many animals are attracted to fermenting fruit in particular and can get quite pissed on it, but in the dry desert regions where your stories are based any fruit would be an important source of water as well as its food value.
     
  6. sambsonwayfinder

    sambsonwayfinder What's a Dremel?

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