A Wolf at Last

Part One · A Wolf at Last

The boy minded the sheep on the hill. All day nothing happened at all.

He was so bored. So he ran down to the village and shouted, "Wolf!"

The people came running with sticks and pans. They looked all over, but there was no wolf.

The boy laughed and laughed. "It was a joke!" he said. The people went home cross.

A few days later, he did it again. Up the hill they ran, but there was no wolf.

An old man shook his head. "Stop fibbing," he said. "You will be sorry one day."

That evening, two yellow eyes shone in the trees. A real wolf stepped out!

The boy ran to the village. "A real wolf!" he cried. "Please come!"

But nobody came. "He is fooling us again," said the people. "We won't go."

The wolf ran at the sheep. They scattered every way. The wolf soon gave up and went off.

The boy looked for the sheep all night. He found them one by one, safe in the bushes.

Next morning, the old man helped him bring them home. "Nobody believes a fibber," he said.

The boy nodded. From then on, he told the truth. And the next time he shouted, they came.