The Boy who cried Wolf

Those who love Aesop’s Fables would without a doubt have heard of the story of the “The Boy who cried Wolf“. It is ordered as number 210 in the Perry Index. The story is it is derived the English idiom “to cry wolf”, which means “to give a false alarm” or to make false claims, with the result that subsequent true claims are disbelieved. It is the story of a boy who cried wolf everytime to play a prank on the villagers and they finally never came even when the wolf actually came.

Story:

Once upon a time, there once was a boy who was very mischievous. He was very naughty. He used to climb up the trees. He used to run up the hill. He used to chase the sheep.

Every day he used to take his sheep to the forest to graze. The boy was very bored and he wanted to have fun.

He thought to himself “I am bored. I would like to have some fun.”

He took a great breath “ WHOOOOOOOOOOOO………”

He shouted, “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”

The villagers heard his screams and

The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.

“Don’t cry ‘wolf’, shepherd boy,” said the villagers, “when there’s no wolf!” They went grumbling back down the hill.

Later, the boy sang out again, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!” To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.

When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, “Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don’t cry ‘wolf’ when there is NO wolf!”

But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.

The final straw

Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and screamed out as loudly as he could, “Wolf! Wolf!”

But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn’t come.

At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.

“There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, “Wolf!” Why didn’t you come?”

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

“We’ll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning,” he said, putting his arm around the youth, “Nobody believes a liar…even when he is telling the truth!”

Moral of the story:

The moral of the story “The Boy who cried Wolf” is “Lie a lot and people will never believe you even when you are telling the truth”

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Questions on “The Boy who cried Wolf“

1. Who are the main characters of the story?
2. How did the boy play a prank on the villagers
3. What happened when the wolf actually attacked the herd?
4. What happened at the end of the story?
5. What is the moral of the story?

Answers:

1. The main characters of the story are a boy and a wolf.
2. The boy cried wolf every time and people came running to check if he was alright only to realize that he was lying.
3. The boy cried wolf but no one came to help him as everyone thought he was lying.
4. At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn’t returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping and his sheep killed by the wolf. He had learnt his lesson on not to lie.
5. The moral of the story “The Boy who cried Wolf” is “Lie a lot and people will never believe you even when you are telling the truth”

The Boy who cried Wolf – PDF

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The Boy who cried Wolf – PDF