At the center of the mesmerizing rolling meadows, dwelt a shepherd boy. His being was mostly untarnished, simple yet virtuous. His only responsibility was essentially to tend to his herd of sheep.
Their gentle baas and the whispering of the gales among the single tree on the hilltop were his only associates. Day after day, looking out for his wards imbued in him a notion of calm satisfaction.
Yet, there were occasional moments of solitude, when the shepherd boy would pine for companionship. In one such instance from sheer tedium, the shepherd boy devised a mischievous plot.
Stories of wolves hunting on sheep had been heard times and again in the hamlet. So, the boy decided here to leveraged this fear and played a joke on the villagers.
One day he raced into the village yelling “Wolf! A wolf is that has taken my sheep!” The frightened villagers sprinted up the hills for rescue but saw no beast.
The boy giggled at the dilemma on their faces. This prank continued for a few days more. But, one noon, a real wolf actually come to prey the grazing sheep. The shepherd boy ran for aid screaming “Wolf, Wolf!” But this time, no one came.
Frustrated and alone, the boy fought against the wolf but could rescue only few of his sheep. Heartbroken, he went back to the town only to receive a reprimand on honesty and the results of false alarms.
The story of this shepherd boy has been passed down generations as a mediaeval parable to teaching the value of honesty, the implications of dishonesty and the perils of crying wolf. Moreover, it emphasizes how trust once broken, is tough to earn back. It's a story as pertinent today as it was then.