and yet , and despite , and perhaps because of , those circumstances , which would have driven many to despair and depression , this courageous little grape grew and ripened ; and whilst others around him may have been gobbled as they slept by gangs of wild boar , and others plucked by the pin-precise bills of passing birds , and still others were stuck down by disease and pestilence , yet did our little hero cling to life and sweeten upon the vine .