Once upon a time, a shepherd boy grazed a flock of sheep on the mountain slopes. One day, this boy called out all of a sudden, “Wolf! Wolf!”
On hearing his cries, the villagers who were going about their daily tasks of farming or chopping wood immediately laid aside their work and hurried to come to his rescue, carrying reaping-hooks, hoes and bamboo poles in their hands. However, when they arrived they found the sheep grazing docilely and no sign of any danger. “Where is the wolf?” they asked the boy. He simply threw back his head and laughed.
There was, of course, no actual wolf but a boy who was teasing the villagers. They all got very angry and criticized him for lying. They asked him not to tell lies again and went back to their work.
A few days later, the villagers were busy with their work when again they heard the shepherd boy crying out, “Wolf! Wolf!”
Just like the last time, they laid aside their work at once and ran up to save him, reaping-hooks, hoes and bamboo poles in hand. And once more they found themselves fooled. There was not a wolf at all and the boy was again standing there laughing at them.
“We criticized you and asked you not to tell us lies again,” the villagers said, “so why did you disobey us?” They boy just laughed even louder. He regarded himself as being a very superior sort of boy. Even the adults were fooled by him.
A few days later, the boy called out again, “Wolf! Wolf! Come on! Come on! Come quickly! Wolf!”
Upon hearing his cries, no one stopped their work. One villager said, “The boy has lied to us twice, and it is certain that he is lying again this time.” Another said, “We had been fooled by this boy quite enough. Not again. ”
But this time there really was a wolf. It had a big red mouth wide open and very sharp teeth and it ate up all the sheep. Then it turned to eat the boy.
“Wolf! Wolf! Come on! Wolf!” shouted the boy, as he tried to run away. However, no one come to his rescue.
The boy was fortunate to roll down the hillside and redeem his own life from the jaws of the wolf, but all his sheep were eaten up. From then on, the boy dared not lie again.
