There was once a young Shepherd’s Boy who tended his sheep all day, at the foot of a mountain which was near a dark
forest. It was rather
lonely for him all day, so he
thought of a
plan by which he could get a little company as well as some
excitement.
He rushed down toward the
village calling out "Wolf, ‘Wolf,”. All of the villagers came out to meet him. Some of the villagers stopped with him for a long time to make sure the wolf wasn’t going to return.
This pleased the boy so much. He loved the company. He loved the
fact that everyone cared for him enough to spend time with him when they
thought he was in danger.
Then a few days later he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to his help.
He
repeated this every day for the next week. Each day the villagers came to
protect the boy. Each day they believed the boy less and less.
But shortly after this a wolf did come out from the
forest and began to
scare the sheep and the boy, and the boy, of course, cried out "Wolf, Wolf," louder than before. However, this time the villagers who had been fooled many times before,
thought the boy was again lying to them, and this time nobody bothered to come to his help.
So the Wolf made a good meal off the boy's sheep, and when the boy complained, the
wise man of the
village said:
"A LIAR WILL NOT BE BELIEVED, EVEN
WHEN HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH."