The boy who cried wolf
Once upon a time, a shepherd
boy tended his master's sheep
near a dark forest not far from
the village. Soon he found his
days in the pasture very dull.
"There is no one to talk with,
and there is nothing to do!" he
would moan. All he could do was
talk to his dog or play on his
shepherd's pipe.
One day as he sat watching the
sheep and the quiet forest, he
thought of a plan to amuse
himself.
His master had told him to call for
help if a wolf should attack the
flock, and the villagers would come
running to drive it away.
If I alert the village that a wolf is
here, people will come. Then I'll
have lots of people to talk to, and
what fun it will be! the shepherd
boy thought.
So, though he had not seen anything
that even looked like a wolf, he ran
toward the village shouting at the top
of his voice, "Wolf! Wolf!"
As expected, the villagers who heard
the shepherd boy's cry dropped their
work and made for the pasture with
great haste. But when they got there
they found the boy doubled up with
laughter at the trick he had played on
them.
"Don't cry 'wolf,' shepherd boy," said
the villagers, "when there's no wolf!"
They went grumbling back down the
hill.
Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf!
Wolf! The wolf is chasing the
sheep!" To his naughty delight, he
watched the villagers run up the hill
to help him drive the wolf away.
When the villagers saw no wolf, they
sternly said, "Save your frightened
song for when there is really
something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf'
when there is NO wolf!"
But the boy just grinned and
watched them go grumbling down
the hill once more.
Then, one evening as the sun was setting
behind the forest and the shadows were
creeping out over the pasture, a wolf really
did jump out from the underbrush and start
chasing the sheep.
The boy, terrified and realizing the danger,
ran toward the village shouting, "Wolf!
Wolf!" But though the villagers heard the
cry, they did not run to help him as they had
before. "He cannot fool us again," they said.
The wolf carried away a sheep into the
forest.
At sunset, everyone wondered why the
shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village
with their sheep. They went up the hill to
find the boy. They found him weeping.
"There really was a wolf here! The
flock has scattered! I cried out,
'Wolf!' Why didn't you come?"
An old man tried to comfort the
boy as they walked back to the
village.
"We'll help you look for the lost
sheep in the morning," he said,
putting his arm around the youth,
"Nobody believes a liar... even when
he is telling the truth."
The end
Liars will not be rewarded;
even if they tell the truth,
no one believes them.
Presented by:
Adapted by Aaliyah Smith, from the original Aesop’s
fable. Illustrations by Didier Martin. Design by Banguis, Shane
Christia Copeland Published by My Wonder Studio.
Copyright ©2011 by The Family International Geonzon, Grethel
