The Boy Who Cried Wolf
- 3 minute read
- Ages 5-9
- Aesop's Fables
A boy was given the job of watching the village sheep. Every morning he took them up the hill, and every evening he brought them down again, and in between there was nothing to do at all.
The hill was quiet. The sheep ate grass. The hours went by very slowly.
The first time
One afternoon, out of pure boredom, the boy stood up and shouted as loud as he could.
"Wolf! Wolf! There is a wolf among the sheep!"
The whole village came running. Men left their work in the fields. Women came out of the houses. They ran all the way up the hill with sticks in their hands, out of breath, ready to fight.
There was no wolf. The boy was sitting on a rock, laughing so hard he could hardly speak.
The villagers looked at each other. Then they walked back down the hill without saying anything.
The second time
A few days later the boy was bored again.
"Wolf! Wolf!"
And they came again — fewer of them this time, and slower, but they came. And again there was nothing there but sheep and grass and a boy laughing at them.
"Do not do that again," said the oldest farmer.
The boy said he would not.
The third time
About a week later, late in the afternoon, something moved at the edge of the trees.
It came out into the open, and it was grey and thin and low to the ground, and it was looking at the sheep.
The boy jumped to his feet.
"Wolf!" he screamed. "Wolf! Please! There is a wolf!"
Down in the village they heard him.
A woman in her doorway shook her head. Two men in the field looked up, looked at each other, and went back to work. Somebody said, "That boy again."
Nobody came.
The boy shouted until his voice broke and then he stopped, because there was no point, and he climbed a tree and stayed there until it was over.
In the evening he came down the hill on his own and told them what had happened, and this time they believed him.
But the sheep were gone.
Moral of the story
Tell lies for long enough and no one will believe you when it matters. Trust is easy to spend and very hard to earn back.
Questions and answers
- What was the boy's job?
He was the village shepherd. He took the sheep up the hill every morning and brought them back every evening.
- Why did the boy shout 'wolf' the first time?
He was bored. Nothing ever happened on the hill, and he thought it would be funny to see the villagers come running.
- How did the villagers react the second time?
Fewer of them came, and more slowly, and afterwards the oldest farmer warned him not to do it again.
- What happened when the real wolf came?
The boy shouted for help but nobody came, because they assumed he was lying again. The wolf took the sheep.
- What is the boy's real punishment in the story?
Not being believed. Even when he was telling the truth about something serious, his word was worth nothing.
Word meanings
- shepherd
- A person whose job is to look after sheep.
- boredom
- The feeling of having nothing interesting to do.
- villagers
- The people who live in a village.
- trust
- Belief that someone is honest and can be relied on.
Questions about The Boy Who Cried Wolf
What is the moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
The moral is that a liar will not be believed even when he tells the truth. Once you lose people's trust, you cannot simply ask for it back.
Why is this story still used to teach children?
Because it shows a consequence rather than a punishment. Nobody scolds the boy at the end; he simply discovers that his word no longer works.
What does 'crying wolf' mean today?
It means raising a false alarm, or complaining about something that is not really a problem, so often that people stop taking you seriously.
Who wrote The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
It is an Aesop's fable, told in ancient Greece and passed down for more than two thousand years.