Is it OK to pick your neighbour's fruit?

Summer fruits have to be among life's greatest sensual pleasures. And one of the joys of having a young baby in the house is poking delicious little slivers of whatever is ripe into her mobile, responsive mouth, then watching her squirm and kick with pleasure. She, the three-year-old and I gorge together in sticky abandon. But they look a bit perplexed when I start reciting Andrew Marvell's The Garden: "The nectarine and curious peach/ Into my hands themselves do reach./ Stumbling on melons as I pass/ Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass." In Marvell's garden, ripe apples drop about his head, or so the poet claims. In ours, the neighbour's tree is heavy with apples just perfect for eating, stewing or puddings – an artistically laden bough hangs down over the fence towards us. If I let them fall, the slugs and snails will enjoy a feast. It is so tempting to strip it and scuttle back towards the kitchen with my prize, but would plundered fruit turn to ashes in the mouth?