The Boy Who Cried Wolf

This story is called The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a traditional fable by Aesop. This is a LibraryCall adaptation and recording. Long ago, there was a shepherd boy who took care of a flock of sheep. The sheep grazed in a meadow near a dark forest, not far from a village. The boy, who was quite an energetic young person, enjoyed his work at first-- herding the sheep to places with greener grass, watching for hungry animals that liked to eat sheep, and ensuring the not-so-bright sheep didn’t eat any poisonous plants. But after the novelty of these activities had worn off, the shepherd began to find life in the pasture very dull. As the sheep stood around chewing grass, all he could do to amuse himself was talk to his dog or play on his pipe. One day, as the boy sat on the edge of the quiet forest watching the sheep chew grass, he thought about what he would do if a wolf ever entered the pasture. And that thought led him to a plan to amuse himself. The owner of the sheep had instructed the shepherd boy to call loudly for help if he ever saw a wolf try to attack the flock; the villagers would then work together to scare the wolf away. Though the boy had not seen anything even resembling a wolf that day, he decided to run toward the village shouting at the top of his lungs, "Wolf! There’s a wolf!" Just as expected, the villagers who heard the cry dropped their work and ran as fast as they could to the pasture. But when they got there, they found the boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them. The villagers, angry at the boy for the disruption, returned to their work. A few days later, the shepherd boy once more found himself feeling bored and listless. Remembering the excitement from the other day, he ran toward the village again shouting, "Wolf! Wolf!" Like before, the villagers dropped their work and ran to help, only to be laughed at again. Then one evening, as the sun was setting behind the forest and the shadows were creeping out over the pasture, a grey animal with pointed ears and beady eyes sprung from the underbrush and began to hunt the sheep. “It’s.. really a wolf!” cried the boy in terror. He knew exactly what to do to get help. It had worked twice before. So he ran toward the village again shouting, "Wolf! Wolf!" But this time, the villagers did not run to help him. "We’ve heard this one before. This prankster can’t fool us again," they said, continuing their work. That day, the wolf ate many of the sheep in the pasture while the shepherd boy continued to cry out “Wolf! Wolf!”. Moral: People will not believe liars, even on those occasions when they speak the truth. This story was The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a traditional fable by Aesop. This has been a LibraryCall adaptation and recording.