High on a green hill above the village, a boy watched the sheep all day long. It was a quiet job. Too quiet, the boy thought. He was bored.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
So, just for fun, he jumped up and shouted as loud as he could:
“Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep!”
The villagers heard him. They dropped their work and ran up the hill with sticks to help.
But there was no wolf anywhere. The boy laughed and laughed. The villagers went back down the hill, tired and cross.
A few days later, the boy was bored again. “Wolf! Wolf!” he cried.
Again the villagers ran up the hill. Again there was no wolf. This time, nobody laughed.
Then, one evening, a real wolf crept out of the dark woods. “Wolf! Please!” the boy cried. “This time it is real!”
But the villagers only shook their heads. “He is fooling us again,” they said. And no one came.
The sheep ran away into the dark, and the boy was left all alone on the hill.
That night, he learned something he never forgot: when you tell lies, no one will believe you — not even when you are telling the truth.