Crying Wolf and Other Tales

Kosmas is a shepherd boy in Greece. One evening, he is bored. "What can I do?", he thinks.

He goes to the nearest village and cries, "Help! A wolf is eating my sheep!"

The villagers run up the hill angrily. But the sheep are standing there quietly, with no wolf.

"Where's the wolf?", they ask.

"It isn't here now", Kosmas says.

Later, Kosmas tells his dog Sirius, "What a good trick! I lie and they believe me!"

The next week, Kosmas cries "Wolf!" again, and all the villagers run up the hill. But this time, some villagers listen when Kosmas speaks to Sirius. So they learn about his trick.

"Never tell lies again!", they say. "All right. I promise!", Kosmas answers.

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shepherd a man or boy who looks after sheep

bored not happy because you have nothing interesting to do

wolf (plural wolves) a wild animal like a dog

sheep (plural sheep) an animal, usually white or black, that lives in the country

trick a thing which makes people think something is true

lie to say something that is not true; when you say something that is not true

believe to think that something is true

promise to say now that you can do something later; when you say that you can do something later