THE BOY WHO CRIED "WOLF!"
:
Stories To Tell Children
There was once a shepherd-boy who kept his flock at a little distance
from the village. Once he thought he would play a trick on the villagers
and have some fun at their expense. So he ran toward the village crying
out, with all his might,--
"Wolf! Wolf! Come and help! The wolves are at my lambs!"
The kind villagers left their work and ran to the field to help him. But
when they got there th
boy laughed at them for their pains; there was
no wolf there.
Still another day the boy tried the same trick, and the villagers came
running to help and got laughed at again.
Then one day a wolf did break into the fold and began killing the lambs.
In great fright, the boy ran for help. "Wolf! Wolf!" he screamed. "There
is a wolf in the flock! Help!"
The villagers heard him, but they thought it was another mean trick; no
one paid the least attention, or went near him. And the shepherd-boy
lost all his sheep.
That is the kind of thing that happens to people who lie: even when they
tell the truth no one believes them.