Aesop's Fables: Townsend (1867)
74. The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf (Perry
210)
A SHEPHERD-BOY, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought
out the villagers three or four times by crying out, 'Wolf! Wolf!' and
when his neighbors came to help him, laughed at them for their pains.
The Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really
alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: 'Pray, do come and help me; the
Wolf is killing the sheep'; but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor
rendered any assistance. The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his leisure
lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.
There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.
George Fyler Townsend's translation of the fables, first published in 1867, is
in the public domain and can be found at many websites, including Project
Gutenberg.
Illustrations come from: Aesop's Fables, by George Fyler Townsend, with
illustrations by Harrison Weir, 1867, at Google
Books. |