Ronnie’s Bad Decision
What is the importance of telling the truth?
Goal:
Goal:
It is important to tell the truth. People believe what you say until they see that you are not being honest. Here is a story about “Ronnie’s Bad Decision.” He decided not to tell the truth. It made people mad. Read the story to find out what happened.
Meet Ronnie. Ronnie told a lie to play a trick on people. Let’s see how Ronnie’s lie affects him later.
There was once a young shepherd named Ronnie, who looked after a flock of sheep. One day, he was bored, so he decided to play a trick. He screamed, “Help! Wolf! Please help!” The other villagers came running with sticks to drive the wolf away and protect the boy and his sheep.
When they reached Ronnie, they asked him where the wolf was. The boy laughed and said, “I fooled everyone! There was no wolf.” The villagers left angrily.
Ronnie repeated the same trick several times, and the villagers came running every time. They warned Ronnie never to play that trick again, but he just laughed.
One day, a wolf came to the field where Ronnie and his sheep were. The wolf started chasing the sheep, one by one. Ronnie shouted, “Wolf! Help, please!” The villagers heard him, but they ignored his cries. They thought he was playing a trick on them again.
Ronnie ran down the hill and told the closest villagers about the wolf. They could see how scared Ronnie was, so they followed him to the field. When they got there, they saw the wolf running away. It had scared all the sheep out of the pasture. Ronnie cried, “I called for help! Why didn’t anyone come to help me?” An old villager comforted Ronnie. He told him, “We are sorry about the sheep. But now you know that nobody believes someone who tells false stories, … even when he finally is telling the truth.”
Question 1
Why did Ronnie tell a lie?
Ronnie was bored and thought it would be fun to play a trick.
Question 2
What lesson did Ronnie learn in the end?
Ronnie learned that telling a lie makes people not trust him.
Have you ever told a lie because you thought it was funny? Have you ever told a lie to get out of trouble? How about telling a story to impress a friend? Telling a lie may seem like no big deal. But, telling lies might make it hard for people to trust you.