THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF

THE BOY WHO
CRIED WOLF

About me

like the anger of fire
shapes metal
like the sorrow of a writer
creates poetry
everything that is beautiful
doesn't always start beautifully.

NIRWANA BINTI Greenery
JALIL

09/05/2003

Age : 19 years old

YMeulsltoawrd

A young boy got a job with a shepherd. “ Just keep
your eyes and ears open and look out for wolves”
said the shepherd. “Wolves always try to eat my
sheep. If you see one, ring this bell and shout out
Wolf..! Wolf..! Then we’ll come running with our

guns. Can you do that, boy?”
Don’t you worry Mr Shepherd,”said the boy. Your

sheep are safe with me.”
The boy took the sheep up into the hills and sat
down with his bell. “Don’t worry sheep,”he said.
“I’m here now. I’m in charge. You’ll be safe with

me.’

All morning the boy sat in the grass looking for
wolves. “I expect they’re hiding,” he said to the
sheep. That night the boy took the sheep back to the
village. The shepherd counted his sheep and was
very pleased. “Well done,” he said. “All safe. Same

again tomorrow?”
“Yes sir!” said the boy.
The next day was exactly the same as the first day.
The boy took the sheep to the hills and sat down with
his bell looking for wolves. There weren’t any. The
boy noticed that the day felt very long. There was no
one to talk to except sheep, and the sheep never
talked back. They just ate grass... all day.

By the fifth day the boy was very bored with his job.
He looked up at the mountains. Not a wolf in sight.
He looked down at the bell and he thought of a plan
to amuse himself, “Maybe I could just pretend there’s
a wolf so that people will come. Then I’ll have lots of

people to talk to, and what fun it will be!”

So, though he had not seen anything like a wolf ,he
picked up his bell.. and rang it, shouting: Wolf! Wolf!
Hurry! Come quickly! There’s a big old wolf coming!”

Soon he could hear the sound of men running up the
hill. “Where is it?” said the shepherd. “Gone,” said the

boy. He just ran off.”
“Well done boy, you saved my sheep,you have a good
listening skills as you listen to my instruction very

attentively ” said the shepherd.
The other men all patted the boy on the head and said

how brave he’d been and what a good job he’d done.
The boy felt so proud and pleased with himself that he

almost forgot that he’d made the whole thing up.

Then, an old man who saw that the mischievous boy
only made up the scene, adviced him that he should

never tell a lie and must always be truthful. "You
should also be an active listener whenever someone

offered you an advice because that advice may
benefit you one day," said the old man. However, the

boy only turn a deaf ear.

A few days later he was bored again. “The only good
day I had in this job was when I pretended there was
a wolf,” he told the sheep. “And I rang my bell and all
the men came and told me what a good job I’d done. It

was brilliant.”
He looked at his bell. And that’s when he decided to
do it again. He rang, he shouted and again the men

came running.

Where is it?” said the shepherd.
“Gone,” said he boy. “Ran away.” This time the men
didn’t say “well done” and pat him on the head. This
time they looked at the boy like they didn’t believe

him.
“There was a wolf, honest” he said. The men just
walked back to the village without speaking. Now the

boy felt really sorry for himself.
“They know I rang my bell when there was no wolf”

Then out of the corner of his eyes he saw a
movement-a big thing was coming down the
hillside heading straight for the sheep. The boy
rang his bell and he shouted. “Wolf! Wolf! Come

quickly! There’s a wolf!”

Down the village the men heard the bell ring and just
carried on working. “Little fool,” said the shepherd.

“Does he think we’ll fall for that again?”
The boy kept ringing his bell. There were tears in his

eyes as he watched the wolf make a meal of one of
the shepherd’s fattest sheep.“I rang my bell but
nobody came,” the boy told the shepherd that
evening.

The shepherd nodded. “Nobody believes a liar...even
when he’s speaking the truth.”

That day the boy learnt an important lesson-first, if
you desire people to believe and trust what you say,
you must always be truthul. Moreover, you should be
an active listener that carefully pays attention to the

words of the speaker.



Take It One Step More



1. Do you think the boy

had a good reason for

crying wolf? Why or why not?



2. Have you ever felt tempted to lie because you
were bored? If so, what did you do about it?


3. Is it ever OK to lie? Explain your answer.