The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Why is truthfulness important? Think about that as you read this story.

Meet Ronnie. Ronnie told a lie to play a trick on people. Let’s see what happens in this story about honesty.

There was once a shepherd by the name Ronnie who looked after a flock of sheep. One day, out of boredom, he decided to play a trick. He screamed “Help! Wolf! Please help!”. The villages came running with sticks to drive the wolf away and protect the boy. When they reached the boy, they asked him where the wolf was. The boy laughed and said “I fooled everyone! There was no wolf.” The villagers left angrily.

The boy repeated the same trick several times and the villagers came running in every time. They gave a warning to never pull that trick again as the boy laughed. One day, a wolf entered the field where Ronnie and the flock of sheep were and slowly started attacking the sheep one by one. Ronnie shouted “Wolf! Help, please!”. The villagers heard him but dismissed his cries, thinking he was playing a trick on them again.

Ronnie ran down the hill and told the closest villager about the wolf. When the villagers followed him, they saw the wolf running away after killing and hurting the sheep. Ronnie cried “I called for help! Why didn’t anyone come to help?”. An old villager consoled him, he said, “We are sorry about the sheep. But now you should know that nobody believes a liar… even when they are telling the truth.”

Question

Why did Ronnie tell a lie?

Ronnie was bored and thought it would be fun to play a trick.

Question

Do you think Ronnie learned a lesson 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 may make it hard for people to trust you.