The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf

There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, and he thought of a plan to amuse himself and have some company. He would run toward the village and cry out, 'Wolf! Wolf!' as loud as he could, and when the villagers came running to help him, he would laugh at them for their trouble.

He did this three times, and each time the villagers arrived with sticks and weapons, only to find the boy laughing at them from the safety of the hillside. 'You wicked boy,' they would say, shaking their heads in disappointment. 'You must not cry wolf when there is no wolf.' But the boy only laughed harder.

One evening, as the sun was setting and the shadows were growing long, a real wolf did come out of the forest. The boy was terrified. He ran toward the village shouting at the top of his voice, 'Wolf! Wolf! Help! A wolf is attacking my sheep!' But the villagers heard him and said to one another, 'He is trying to fool us again. He thinks we will come running every time he calls. Let him learn his lesson.' So no one paid any attention to his cries.

The wolf, finding no opposition, killed and ate several of the sheep. When the boy finally ran home in tears, the villagers saw the truth of what had happened. 'We should have come,' they said, remorseful. 'We have learned our lesson too late.' The boy learned that day that lies may seem amusing in the moment, but they destroy the trust that others place in you, and when real danger comes, no one will believe your warnings.