At the center of the enchanting rolling hills, dwelt a boy named Shepherd. His life was pure, and unsophisticated. His only responsibility was essentially to tend to his flock of ewes.
Their low murmuring and the murmuring of the breezes through the single tree on the hilltop were his only co-dwellers. Day in day, guarding his responsibilities inculcated in him a notion of quiet fulfillment.
However, there were the occasional moments of solitude, when the shepherd boy would long for companionship. In one such instance out of sheer boredom, the shepherd boy devised a mischievous plot.
Tales of wolves hunting on sheep had been around for a while in the town. So, the boy decided to used this fear and played a trick on the townsfolk.
One morning he ran into the village yelling “Wolf! A wolf is that has taken my sheep!” The frightened villagers rushed up the hills for rescue but discovered no beast.
The boy giggled at the puzzle on their faces. This game persisted for a few days more. However, one day, a real wolf did attack the herd. The shepherd boy raced for help, shouting “Wolf, Wolf!” But this time, no one came.
Frustrated and here alone, the boy fought against the wolf but managed to rescue only few of his flock. Devastated, he returned to the village only to receive a lesson on honesty and the repercussions of crying wolf.
His tale of this shepherd boy has been handed down generations as a mediaeval parable to teaching the significance of honesty, the implications of dishonesty and the risks of crying wolf. Moreover, it highlights how trust once broken, is hard to earn back. It's a story as pertinent today as it was in the past.