THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF


 A shepherd boy tended his master’s sheep near a dark forest not far from the village. Soon, he found life in the pasture very dull. All he could do to amuse himself was talk to his dog or play a tune on his shepherd’s pipe. 

 One day as he sat watching the sheep and the quiet forest, he began to think about what he would do if he should see a wolf. He thought of a plan to amuse himself. His master had told him to call for help if a wolf attacked the flock, and the villagers would come running to drive it away. 

So now, even 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 he expected, the villagers heard his cry and dropped their work to run to the pasture in great excitement. But when they got there, they found the boy doubled up with laughter at the trick he had played on them. 

 A few days later, the boy again shouted, “Wolf! Wolf!” Again the villagers ran to help him, 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 wolf really did spring from the underbrush and fall upon the sheep. 

 In terror, the boy ran toward the village shouting, “Wolf! Wolf!” But though the villagers heard his cry, they did not run to help him as they had before. “He cannot fool us again,” they said. The wolf killed a great many of the boy’s sheep and then slipped away into the forest.

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