THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF

Boy running from wolf

Now, my little gorilla grandchildren, I want to share a story with you about a boy who cried wolf.  It will teach you to be honest, because once you start lying, people and animals will stop believing you!

One day, there was a boy named Pepper.  Pepper worked at the mall in a scooter store called "Scoot Your Boot."  Every day Pepper would come in and put his helmet on, and ride around the store on the newest scooters.  He always wanted to test them out so he could tell the customers which one was the best.  There was a girl he liked who worked right across from him in the food court at a place called "Cookies 4 You."  Her name was Bufanda.

He was always looking for ways to get Bufanda's attention.  He would ride by on his scooter, and try to do flips to impress her.  It never seemed to work, though.  Pepper knew he had to come up with a way to get her to come talk to him. He decided he was going to have to do something outrageous.

First he tried buying cookies from her, but she still would never even pay attention to him.  Then, he decided he had to go above and beyond.

He arrived at the scooter store one day and the mall was packed.  He started screaming at the top of his lungs, "WOLF! WOLF! Oh my gosh!  A WOLF!"

Bufanda came running from the cookie store to see what was going.  Pepper was still shouting, "WOLF!"

She ran over to him, and saw that there was no wolf.  She just kind of looked at him at first, and walked away.

Pepper finally had her attention! He was so excited!! He figured out how to get her to notice him!

So the next day, he came in to work as usual.  Once again, he shouted, "WOLF! WOLF! Someone help me! A WOLF!"

And again, Bufanda came running in, checking to see if everything was okay. 

"Are you okay?"  Bufanda asked.

"I will be fine, but there was a wolf."

Bufanda was really confused, because she did not see a wolf anywhere. 

"Well, I don't see a wolf, but calm down and I'm sure you will be fine."

Once again, Pepper was so happy!  She was finally talking to him and giving him all her attention!  So he came in the next day and was zipping around on the scooter, and started shouting, "WOLF! It's going to eat me! HELP!"

Bufanda came sprinting in hoping she would see the wolf this time.  Still, there was no wolf.  She was finally getting a little frustrated with the whole shouting "Wolf!"

She said, "I don't see a wolf.  Every day you scare me to death when you shout so loud, and I never ever have seen a wolf in the store."

Pepper said, "Well, it was here a minute ago, and it almost bit my left thigh off."

Bufanda exited the store for the third time.  She was sick of Pepper joking around; however, Pepper was extremely happy because she had talked to him that day!

The next day, Pepper went into the store with a smile on his face.  He knew Bufanda would probably be becoming in again and talk to him.  Except, all of a sudden he noticed a large creature walk into the store.  It stared him down.  The teeth on this creature were so huge, and drool was spilling from its mouth.  All of a sudden, the animal took off straight for him, and Pepper realized it was a wolf.  It was biting his face and ripping him to shreds.

He began shouting, "WOLF! Someone help! It's killing me!"

However, no one came this time, not even Bufanda.  They all figured it was just another game he was playing.  They were all very tired and not in the mood for it that day. Pepper ended up being torn to pieces and eaten by the wolf, never to be seen or heard from again. 

Little gorillas, I wanted to tell you this story because even if you think lying is helping you, it probably isn't.  This boy kept crying wolf, and look where it got him.  No one believed him after that, and he ended up dying.  So, please be careful and make sure to be honest.

Author's Note:  I changed the story in a few different ways.  I changed the setting.  Instead of the boy being on a farm, protecting the sheep from the wolves, I had him working in a store.  I also changed it so that it had a bit of a romantic twist.  There is nothing romantic about the ending, but he does have a crush throughout the story.  Sometimes people go to extremes for the things they want the most.  In the end, they really just need to be themselves, because that is what most people want in the first place.  I wanted the grandchildren who are being told the story to learn that honesty is one of the greatest virtues a person can have.  Not always will you die from lying, but sometimes it eats away at you so much that it can cause a lot of stress. 

In the original story the farmers run out to check on the boy, but in this story I had the girl whom he liked go check on him.  I wanted it to be a little creative, so I had the wolf going into a mall.  Since when do wolves go to malls?  I'm assuming not often.  I did want to keep the same concept of the story though, which was that liars never prevail.  Somehow, someway, lying will hurt you, and if it doesn't hurt you, it will hurt others in the process.

Bibliography Information:
Story Title: The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Book Title: Aesop’s Fables
Book Author: Joseph Jacobs
Year: 1894
Web Source: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Image Information:
An image of a boy running from a wolf.  It was done by Michael Sporn.
Web Source: Boy Who Cried Wolf

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