At the center of the mesmerizing rolling hills, dwelt a shepherd boy. His life was mostly unadulterated, simple, and honest. His primary duty was essentially to care for his herd of rams.
Their gentle baas and the whispering of the wind through the lone tree on the mountaintop were his only associates. Day upon day, watching over his wards imbued in him a feeling of tranquil contentment.
But, there were occasional moments of loneliness, when the shepherd boy would yearn for company. In one The shepherd boy story such instance because of sheer tedium, the shepherd boy orchestrated a troublesome plot.
Narratives of wolves preying on sheep had been around for a while in the village. So, the boy decided to leveraged this fear and played a trick on the inhabitants.
One day he ran into the village yelling “Wolf! A wolf is that has taken my sheep!” The frightened villagers sprinted up the hills for rescue but discovered nothing threatening.
The boy laughed at the confusion on their faces. This prank continued for a couple of more days. But, one morning, a real wolf actually attack the herd. The shepherd boy raced for aid shouting “Wolf, Wolf!” But this time, no one came.
Frustrated and alone, the boy struggled against the wolf but managed to protect only few of his sheep. Heartbroken, he went back to the town only to be met with a scolding on honesty and the repercussions of dishonesty.
The tale of this shepherd boy has been transmitted generations as a mediaeval parable for teaching the value of honesty, the implications of dishonesty and the dangers of false alarms. Moreover, it highlights how trust once violated, is difficult to reclaim. It's a story as appropriate today as it was anciently.