The People the Boy Cried Wolf To

Once upon a time there was a bored shepherd boy who cried wolf a couple of times just to laugh at the villagers’ fluster and for something to do.  You know the story.  So did the villagers, who told the boy the story and warned him he was endangering his own credibility.

A few days later, a ravening pack of wolves attacked the flock.  The flock fled downhill towards the village with the wolves snapping and gashing.  The boy yelled ‘wolves, wolves!’ as loud as he could and even blew a little horn he had.  The villagers came out in the street and watched without doing anything as the flock was killed sheep by sheep and then the boy.

A visiting stranger asked in some surprise why they hadn’t sallied to rescue their sheep and their shepherd boy.      The villagers explained.  “It’s a story,” they said, and told him the tale. “Just like the story, this boy cried wolf before so he had no credibility when wolves actually came.”

“There was no question of credibility!”  the stranger said.  “You saw the wolves!”

But the villagers looked at him with pity and a bit of contempt, and explained the story and its moral again.

Moral:   The Boy Who Cried Wolf has a moral for shepherd boys, not for villagers.