The fox walked up to a fruit stall and asked for the price of grapes.
“Fifteen rupees for a kilogram,” the shopkeeper replied.
“Will you sell the whole rack for five rupees?”
“No.” the shopkeeper said.
“Six rupees?”
“No.”
“Six and a half?”
“No.”
“Six and three quarters?”
“No,” the shopkeeper said.
“Yuck! These grapes are truly sour!” the fox declared.
The other customers who were nearby heard that last bit of their conversation. Citing them as expert witnesses, the fruit seller declared to all and sundry that he intended to press charges of defamation and financial losses against the fox.
Discovering that he had no meaningful recourse or defense, the fox decided to seek refuge inside a collection of ancient Indian fables we now call ‘Panchatantra’.
[Original in Malayalam by O. V. Vijayan titled: ‘Abhayam’
Translated by Keerthik Sasidharan]