Sleepyjack

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

(Based on a true story)

Once upon a time there was a peaceful village. The village had a lot of sheep and they were guarded by a shepherd. His name was George. George was appointed shepherd because his father was a shepherd. Some of the sheep objected, but uncle Tony on the village council overruled them. Sometimes sheep can be silly. George liked being shepherd. Mostly he sat around and thought about his pet goat. Sure there was that one vicious wolf attack while he was guarding the sheep, but that really wasn't his fault. Wolves do that sort of thing.

As time went on, George found the sheep sometimes started saying not nice things about him. George didn't like this. One day when he heard the sheep grumbling he called out "wolf!" all the sheep stopped grumbling and the entire village came out and saw that there was no wolf. But they took George's word that there must have been a wolf. After all everyone knew wolves were real and remembered that vicious wolf attack on George's watch, which wasn't his fault at all. So the sheep decided George was looking out for their best interests.

A little while later, George got mad at the village over the hill, who insulted his daddy. So George cried "wolf" and all the villagers came and formed a posse. George said the wolf came from the village over the hill. Everyone knew the people in that village fed the wolves and might be plotting to poison the wells. Now the funny thing is the posse didn't find any wolf food in the village, or any poison.But the sheep decided George meant well anyway, and who would you rather trust, your shepherd who guards you or those dirty villagers from over the hill. And George's good friend Al Iberton got a nice deal selling in thte market of the village over the hill. So everyone was happy.

One day the sheep started grumbling again. Some sheep started saying that maybe another shepherd could do a better job. Then George cried "wolf!" and all the grumbling stopped. Everyone knew wolves were real, and there was that vicious wolf attack three years ago on George's watch. Surely George wouldn't make up a story like a wolf. Wolves were too serious to be used for fun and games. The news was passed on by the FOX, who told the sheep that only George could protect them from the wolves. So the sheep decided George was doing the best job he could under the circumstances and no one else could possible scare off wolves like him.

The wolves meanwhile were watching the whole thing from up on the ridge and laughing to themselves. You see to a wolf all shepherd are just sheep loving infidels and they fear and loath all of them equally. They didn't care who was shepherd, they just wanted to get at the sheep. They did enjoy seeing a good sheep scare though, and George's constant crying wolf certainly did keep the sheep scared despite the fact that the wolves hadn't attacked the flock in three years. So the wolves felt things were going well. Everyone thought they were all powerful and scary, and the posse was still bogged down in the village over the hill and had pretty much forgotten to look on the ridge.

And you know, one day the wolves did attack the flock. And some of the sheep thought George was doing a bad job of guarding them. But by that time the village had appointed George shepherd-for-life and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it.

The moral of the story is: Sometimes when you cry "wolf!" often enough, you get everything you want.

vanblah

Nice not-so-subtle allegory.

Delvid

This sheep does not support shepard George - think he is the worst shepard evar.

FngKestrel

That should say, "while he was reading childrens' stories to the sheep". Good story.

doodlebird

i was hoping this was going to have a happy ending.
like
"and then all the wolves came down and sodomized the sheppard repeatedly
while the sheep laughed so hard they snorted milk from their noses."

__________________
xoxo
doodle