A bored shepherd’s boy thinks of a joke and shouts down to the village that a wolf is coming. The villagers run up with sticks and find only grazing sheep and a laughing boy. A few days later, he tries it again.
There was once a shepherd’s boy who watched his flock on a hillside above a village. The sheep grazed, the sun crossed the sky, and nothing at all happened.
One long afternoon, for want of anything better to do, the boy thought of a joke. He stood up, filled his lungs, and shouted down the hill.
“Wolf! Wolf!”
The villagers dropped what they were holding and came running up with sticks, ready to drive the wolf off. They found the boy sitting in the grass, and the sheep chewing quietly, and no wolf anywhere. The boy laughed until his sides hurt.
Down the hill the villagers went again, out of breath and not at all pleased.
A few days later he tried it once more.
“Wolf! Wolf!”
Up they came, and again there was nothing to find but a laughing boy and a peaceful flock. Nobody laughed with him, and they went back down the hill without a word.
Then one evening, as the light was going, a wolf really did slip out of the trees. The sheep broke and scattered across the slope. The boy jumped to his feet and shouted with every scrap of breath he had.
“Wolf! Wolf!”
In the houses below, people heard him plainly. They looked at one another, shook their heads, and went back to their suppers. Not one of them came.
So the wolf had the hillside all to himself, and took sheep after sheep, unhurried, while the boy stood in the dusk and called and called.
Retold by Talerie from Aesop’s Fables: a new translation (opens in a new window) Public domain Copy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required. CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)
