The Boy Who Called Wolf
There was once a city boy who sat on his New York steps watching the cars fly by. He was extremely bored, so to amuse himself he began to use all of his lung power and scream out, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the cat!"
The yankees came running up the street to help the boy catch his cat and the wolf , they assumed he was talking about the neighbor's chihuahua. When yankees got to his house there was no "wolf" and the cat was sleeping peacefully on the steps. The yankees were so angry but the boy just sat and laughed at them and all their angry faces.
"Don't cry 'wolf, little boy, when there is no dog chasing the cat," said the angry old man. They all went back to their houses and were furious.
Not even two hours later he began to scream out, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the cat!" To his naughty delight, he watched only his family and close neighbor's run from their houses to help him get animal control to catch the wolf. When they once again saw that there was no wolf,they sternly said, "Save your yelling for when something is actually wrong! Do not cry wolf unless there is a wolf!"
The boy just snickered as he watched them move back into their homes. Later in the evening, as he sat on his front steps, he heard his cat begin to hiss and fight. He turned to see a gigantic wolf trying to attack his cat. Scared for his kitty he jumped up and yelled as loud as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!" But all the people in town did not believe him any longer. They were still angry from the last couple times so they just sat on the couch and watched television to drowned out his voice.
As night came, his mother went out to see why he had not come in for supper. She found him crying on the steps. He cried out, "There really was a wolf here! He ate my kitty cat! I screamed out, 'Wolf!' Why didn't you come?"
His mother tried to comfort him as she walked him in the house. "We'll help you find a new cat in the morning," she said, placing her arm around her son. "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"
americantradition.org
