NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Boy Who Cried Wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf, also known as The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf, is a fable attributed to Aesop (210 in Perry's numbering system).^[1] The protagonist of the fable is a bored shepherd boy who entertained himself by calling out "wolf". Nearby villagers who came to his rescue found that the alarms were false and that they'd wasted their time. When the boy was actually confronted by a wolf, the villagers did not believe his cries for help and his flock perished. In some versions when the villagers ignore him the wolf either kills him, and in other versions the wolf simply mocks the boy saying now no one will help him and that it serves him right for playing tricks. The moral is stated at the end of the fable as: Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Brushtail grabs a big Plymouth Rock hen by the neck, in an Milo Winter illustration for Doctor Rabbit and Brushtail the Fox, by Thomas Clark Hinkle Milo Winter (August 7, 1888- 1956) was a book illustrator, who produced works for editions of Aesops Fables, Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland... Cry_Wolf is a murder mystery film. ... For a comparison of fable with other kinds of stories, see Myth, legend, fairy tale, and fable. ... Aesop, as depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel in 1493. ... A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ... Shepherd in FÄƒgÄƒraÅŸ Mountains, Romania. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... A moral is a one sentence remark made at the end of many childrens stories that expresses the intended meaning, or the moral message, of the tale. ...

"Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed. The liar will lie once, twice, and then perish when he tells the truth."

1 Adaptations
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

Adaptations

On the TV series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Cardassian Garak has a different (tongue-in-cheek) interpretation of the story, suggesting its message is "Never tell the same lie twice". Ricky Gervais suggests the same moral in his Politics stand-up.
On the Simpsons episode "Marge Gets a Job", Bart Simpson indeed tells not one but several different lies to avoid taking a test, only to literally be attacked by a wolf and, subsequently, not be believed.
An episode of Amazing Live Sea Monkeys alluded to the fable; Bill, upon being shunned (so it seems to him) by his too-busy brothers Dave and Aquarius, starts to read the story of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" which inspires him to be like the shepherd boy and play "cry wolf" pranks on Dave and Aquarius, thus getting attention and annoying them. Bill obviously hadn't read the ending of the story; had he, he would have seen the boy get taught a painful lesson about honesty when the wolf came and nobody would come to the boy's aid, so the wolf killed and ate up his sheep.
Sesame Street had a similar version of the fable, called "The Boy Who Cried Monster", read by Maria (Sonia Manzano), in which a little village worried about a monster that's been stealing the villagers' cookies decides on a new system: If anyone ever sees the monster, they will shout "MONSTER!" and everyone else will then come running. A mischievous little boy with a bag of cookies, however, abuses this system twice, shouting "MONSTER! HELP!!" just to have fun watching the villagers come running, only to find the little boy enjoying himself greatly at their expense...and no monster. Then when the monster, Cookie Monster, actually does show up and confront the boy, the boy cries "MONSTER! HELP!!" again, but to no avail (the villagers think he's trying to fool them again and thus refuse to come running this time) and Cookie Monster seizes the boy's bag and eats his cookies.
The title "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was the inspiration for a Quack Pack episode title, The Boy Who Cried Ghost. The plot was also similar to that of the fable; Dewey keeps playing false alarm pranks on Donald, Huey and Louie and annoying them no end, so naturally, when Dewey encounters a real haunted house, they don't believe him.
The two main characters of the fable were the inspiration for the two main characters ("Shephard" and "Wolf") of the 2002 movie, Big Fat Liar, which is loosely based on the fable.

Space station Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9 or STDS9 or DS9 for short) is a science fiction television series produced by Paramount and set in the Star Trek universe. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Andrew Robinson as Elim Garak Elim Garak was a character in the fictional Star Trek: Deep Space Nine universe, played by Andrew Robinson. ... Ricky Dene Gervais (IPA: according to how Gervais pronounces it on The Ricky Gervais Show) (born June 25, 1961) is an Emmy, Golden Globe and BAFTA award-winning English comic writer and performer from Reading, Berkshire. ... The Simpsons. ... Marge Gets a Job is the 7th episode of The Simpsons fourth season. ... For the comic book series of the same name, see Bart Simpson comics. ... The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys character designs by Joe Orlando The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys is a live-action, television series that aired in 1992, running for only 11 episodes before cancellation. ... Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ... Cookie Monster (right) and his mother in a season 33 Letter of the Day segment, 2002. ... Quack Pack is an animated television series made by The Walt Disney Company. ... Big Fat Liar is a 2002 film directed by Shawn Levy. ...

References

^ Ben Edwin Perry (1965). Babrius and Phaedrus, Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 462, no. 210. ISBN 0-674-99480-9.

The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by the Harvard University Press, which present important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...

External links

The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf', translated by Laura Gibbs

Categories: English phrases | Aesop's Fables

COMMENTARY

Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.

Contents

Adaptations

See also var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

References

External links

See also