The Shepherd's Boy
As Grizzly wipes down his bar, he sees the Shepherd's boy, who everyone
called Shep, running towards the bar. Startled, Grizzly starts making
Shep's favorite drink.
"Hide me!" yelled Shep as he raced in the door.
"Hide you?" Grizzly asked as he looked again out the window, "But
there's no one after you."
"Really? Dad must have gotten winded. He's really mad at me this time!"
said Shep.
"What could he be so mad about?" asked Grizzly as he set Shep's drink
down in front of him.
"Oh, it's bad this time. I tried so hard to make my dad proud. I knew
he gave me a lot of responsibility even though I've had some wild
teenage years. And now, I'm some kind of liar apparently. I'll tell ya
who the real liar is; it's Aesop!" he said as he slammed his fist on
the bar, startling Fox. "Sorry fox, I'm just so mad!"
"It's okay," said Fox, "If anyone understands the underhandedness of
Aesop, I do." He laid his head back down onto the bar, listening to
Shep.
"So what happened exactly?" said Grizzly.
"Well, you know how I'm supposed to watch my dad's herd of sheep,
right?" said Shep.
"Yeah, down by that really dark forest at the foot of the mountain.
That's where my cave used to be," said Grizzly, who was very familiar
with that area.
"Exactly," said Shep, "that dark forest is kind of the problem! I was
watching the sheep, and I knew the wolf lived nearby so I was keeping a
sharp eye on everything. Then, about when the sun was rising, I saw the
wolf still in the woods, but about to step out into the field. So I
yelled and yelled at the top of my lungs that I saw a wolf. Everyone
from the village came running. I probably yelled
too loud because the wolf ran back into the woods before anyone saw
him. Aesop happened to be in the village when all this happened. The
grumpy villagers must have told them about the commotion. I tried to
tell them that the wolf must have run away... but they were a little
angry and thought it was a silly prank. But, it wasn't!!"
"What a tricky wolf," said Grizzly. "He must not have been too hungry
to just go back into the woods like that."
Shep took a long swig of his drink, wiped his mouth, and continued.
"Well, he was hungry enough to come back a few days later!" said Shep.
"I saw him walking around the edge of the woods, so instead of waiting
for him to come onto the field, I ran to the village again and told
them. As they were running towards the field, the wolf must have seen
them. When I tried to point the wolf out, they couldn't tell
where I was pointing. He got away again!" Shep seemed to get more and
more frustrated as he told his story.
"You did the right thing, Shep. That wolf is quick. If you don't go
tell them as soon as he is on your sheep's field, you're likely to lose
a few of your animals," said Grizzly.
"You're exactly right," said Shep, looking ashamed. "But I wanted to
make sure everyone saw that I wasn't lying. Especially because they
thought I had tricked them two times. And especially because I knew
that Aesop was in the village. The wolf came back a few hours later. I
waited for him to come further onto the field, so
that everyone would be able to see him. Once he was there, I ran as
fast as I possibly could to tell them. I said, 'There's a wolf, there's
a wolf in our field and he will eat our sheep. Help!' but they just
looked at me and told me not to lie. I tried to explain to them that I
wasn't lying and I needed their help. But they were convinced that I
was playing a nasty trick on them. I spent so long trying to convince
them I wasn't lying that when I came back, the flock was gone. The wolf
had eaten all of them."
"Oh no, Shep. What'd
you do then?" asked Grizzly.
"I walked back to the village and told them that my flock had been
eaten.
Then that ugly old Aesop said to me, 'A liar will not be believed, even
when he speaks the truth'."
"Ugh!" said Fox as he filled with anger. "That's so typical. He
probably wrote up a story to spread the word of your supposed lies,
right?"
"Of course," said Shep. "That's why my dad is so mad at me. If he only
knew how hard I tried..."
"We know," said Grizzly. "Just give it a few days, and maybe things
will have calmed down a bit."
"I sure hope so," said Shep. He drank the rest of his drink and put his
hand on his head, looking very ashamed.
Author's Note: The original
story, The Shepherd’s Boy, claims that the boy is a liar. I retold it
in the Shepherd’s Boy's perspective, explaining the misconception that
happened when he cried wolf so many times. The boy, Shep, explained
that he was just trying to impress his father, and in fact was too good
at his job. So good, that he saw the wolf in the woods near his field
before the wolf even got onto the field. When he would tell the
villagers
what he saw, they wouldn't believe the wolf, since the wolf had been
scared away before they had a chance to see him. The misconception of
the boy being a liar
is explained by his effort to do a good job for his dad. I incorporated
Aesop into the story, being a reporter in the village when the
shepherd's boy cried
wolf. He, along with all of the villagers, assumed the boy was lying.
Even
in the end, they still believed him to be a liar, and now Shep is stuck
with a bad reputation as the boy who cried wolf.
Image Source: DebEbel.com
"The Shepherd's Boy" retold by Joseph Jacobs from Aesop's Fables
(1909). Website: Bartleby.com.