The boy who cried wolf

 Once upon a time, there lived a shepherd boy who would take his flock of sheep for grazing grass by the hillside near his village every day. The hill area was known to have a wolf in its woods who was infamous for attacking the sheep grazing there.

The villagers of that area were aware of the wolf’s menace and were always ready to come to anyone’s aid who called out for help. The shepherd boy was well aware of the helping nature of the villagers residing nearby.

One fine day, the shepherd boy was getting bored as he sat on the hillside watching his sheep grazing grass. To amuse himself he cried out loudly, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is raiding my sheep!” Hearing this, the ever-vigilant villagers rushed to the hillside to help the boy in driving the wolf away. But when they arrived, they found that there was no wolf nearby. Seeing the crowd, the boy had a hearty laugh at the sight of their angry faces. Annoyed at his act, the villagers told him not to unnecessarily call out for help when there is no wolf around. Having said that, they went back down the hill.

After some time the boy mischievously shouted again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is raiding my sheep!” To his amusement, the villagers rushed up the hill again to help him drive the lecherous wolf away. They were naturally upset when he laughed at them for fooling them the second time in a row. One of the villagers in anger told the shepherd not to raise a false alarm if there is no wolf around. They went grumbling back down the hillside.

Later during the day the shepherd let out a hue and cry and shouted at the top of his voice, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is raiding my sheep!” However, this time the villagers assumed that the boy is unnecessarily raising a false alarm about the wolf for his own amusement. They did not react to his cry for help and thought that he was playing a prank on them this time too.

Towards the evening, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned with his flock of sheep. They went up the hill to find him. To their dismay, they found him weeping and they asked him the reason why he was upset.

The shepherd boy replied while sobbing that the wolf had come and scattered his flock of sheep. He cried out for help loudly, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is raiding my sheep!”, but nobody turned up to help him drive the lewd wolf away.

The villagers told him that they had come to his aid when he had raised false alarms in the first two instances. However, when they saw him ridiculing them for their helping nature, they assumed that the third one was a prank call too. Hence, they didn’t pay attention to it.

Moral of the Story:

Once a liar, always a liar. No one believes a liar, even when the latter is speaking the truth.