Once upon a time, there was a young boy who was given a very important job. He was responsible for watching over the village’s sheep on a hill outside the town. His job was to make sure no harm came to them, especially from wolves.
At first, the boy enjoyed his task. He liked being out in the open air, and the sheep were peaceful. But as the days passed, he started to get bored. Nothing seemed to happen, and he had no one to talk to.
One afternoon, feeling restless and wanting some excitement, the boy came up with an idea. He ran down the hill to the village, shouting, “Wolf! Wolf! A wolf is attacking the sheep!”
The villagers were alarmed. They grabbed their tools and rushed up the hill to help. But when they arrived, there was no wolf. The sheep were calmly grazing, and the boy was laughing. “I fooled you all!” he said, thinking it was just a harmless joke. The villagers were not amused. “Don’t do that again,” they warned him. “It’s not something to joke about.”
A few days later, the boy felt bored again. Remembering how excited the villagers had been, he thought, “Why not do it again?” So, he ran to the village, shouting, “Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is back!”
Once again, the villagers hurried up the hill to help. But when they arrived, they saw no wolf, only the boy laughing even harder than before. This time, the villagers were angry. “You lied again,” they said. “Next time, we won’t come. You’re wasting our time.”
But the next day, something terrifying happened. A real wolf appeared from the woods! The boy was scared. The wolf was prowling around, eyeing the sheep. The boy ran down the hill as fast as he could, shouting, “Wolf! Wolf! Please help! There really is a wolf this time!”
But the villagers didn’t believe him. “He’s just trying to trick us again,” they said to one another, and no one came. The boy kept shouting for help, but no one listened. The wolf attacked the sheep, scattering them across the fields.
It was too late when the villagers finally realized the boy was telling the truth. They helped chase the wolf away, but the damage had already been done. Many sheep were lost, and the boy was left feeling ashamed.
That day, he learned a hard lesson: if you lie, people won’t trust you, even when you’re telling the truth.
Moral: Trust is precious. Once broken, it’s hard to earn back.