COYOTE AND THE GRAPES or HOW COYOTE LEARNED A LESSON!

       I want to tell you a very old tale. I don't know who first told this tale or when it was told.I imagine an aged Native American grandmother gathered the children in her tribe around a campfire on a moonlit night and told them this story.
     "Old coyote was always hungry,very greed, and lazy.He preferred to doze in the sun or a warm cave most of the day until hunger rumbling in his empty belly sent him on a search for food. He would travel near and far until he found another who had hunted and then sneak in and steal their hard earned food.
      Coyote was never satisfied with what he did have. The cave another animal had was always better than the one he had. Another female was much prettier than the one he'd picked. The mouse that got away was bigger and would have been much tastier than the one he caught.
    One fine October day,he set out to find food to add to the  very small cache in his cave,before the deep snows came.Coyote thoroughly disliked winter.The bears,mountain lions,fox,all the hunters he depended on to catch food that he could steal, slept in their warm caves and rarely ventured out into the freezing weather to hunt.
     He searched the forest, but found no animals but foraging deer and a few wild turkeys and mice. It never occurred to the lazy coyote to catch any of these creatures and provide his own food.  Clouds,dark, and heavy with snow began to cover the sky and chase the sun away. Belly growling from hunger and frustration,he nearly wept as he headed back to his cold,less than adequate,empty cave.His last mate had grown weary of his laziness and roving eye and left him.
    A few miles from his cave he spotted a large cluster of wild grapes still clinging to the bare vines winding around a huge tree. As luck would have it the tree grew next to a large pond,just beginning to ice around the edges. Coyote sat down and stared at the cluster of grapes for a moment,decided how to reach the grapes without getting wet. Grinning,he circled the tree,keeping his back to the huge pond,he leaped and landed on solid ground with the cluster of still juicy grapes in his teeth.
    Smug with his victory,he started to head home and realized he had made an error and the shortest way home with the heavy cluster of grapes was to swim. Turning his back on the cold water,he headed up the longer trail leading to his warm cave. He had gone a short distance when the cold winter wind shook large fat snowflakes from the heavy clouds.he knew he would soon not be able to see the trail and could become lost in a blizzard.He had no choice but to swim across the pond and take the well traveled shortcut home

     Coyote took a firmer grip on his prize and entered the icy water. He had gone a very short distance when he noticed a huge cluster of grapes in the mouth of another coyote floating just under the surface of the pond. The cluster of grapes was much bigger and the grapes were much fatter and probably much sweeter.He opened his mouth to grab the grape away from the other coyote and to his surprise he sank under the cold water and surfaced without the huge cluster of grapes.

     Struggling to the other side he collapsed on the snow covered bank until he had the strength to stand.
Coyote glanced back at the tree with the now empty vines and down at the cold dark water beginning to freeze.There was no sign of the other coyote or the grapes, in the water or any signs he made it to the bank and escaped with the grapes. The greedy intruder had made it to shore with both clusters of grapes or sunk in the cold deep water,taking both clusters with him. He shivered in the growing dark and cold, turned tail and slumped home,hoping the greedy intruder and the grapes were swallowed up by the cold dark water.
   It would serve him right for stealing food someone else had found and worked so hard to obtain.

        Now I think the moral of this story is very obvious, but it can differ according to the  person reading it and what they are experiencing in their own lives.

        Note: some people always want what they don't have and only see the worth of what they have when they no longer have it.That "pasture" on the other side of the fence can look so much bigger,greener, more lush, and tastier that the one they are currently in.Think a moment before you leap, it could be an illusion.
        Maybe it is greener and lusher because it has fertilizer(Shit) that you can't see until you are in it.
 Why do you think the old saying "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence", is actually a warning to look closer before it is too late and you wade in and discover the hidden stench of shit.