Myths and Narratives- the Origin of the Humanities
The Boy who Cried Wolf
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Date: 26 October 2012
The boy who cried Wolf
Stories are often a staple in every child’s bedtime routine. It is a tradition around the world, for parents, to read to their children, before heading for the bedtime lamp.
In most cases, such stories serve a purpose to amuse a child and even to widen a child’s imagination.
In others, stories can also provide a lesson on morality. These stories are better known as fables. Amongst all fables, Aesop’s fables are perhaps the most renowned.
For this essay, I would be sharing a popular story, titled: The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This story has been retold countless times, and imparts the lesson of the effects of lying.
This story involves a boy, who has a job of guarding a flock of sheep against wolves (Fables, 2012). Whenever he spots a wolf, he would have to ring a bell and cry out ‘Wolf!’. This is to alert the villagers who would come rushing out, armed and ready to tackle the wolf. (Fables, 2012)
After days without any sight of wolf, the boy grows bored. To provide some form of entertainment, the boy decides to pretend that a wolf is attacking. The villagers, alerted to the boy’s cries, arrived without any sight of wolf. The villagers believing that the wolf had escaped, praises the boy for his effort. (Fables, 2012)
The boy laps up all the attention and repeats the same trick, only this time; the villagers ignored him after realizing they have been fooled (Fables, 2012).
Eventually, a wolf attacks the flock of sheep. Despite the repeated cries for help, the villagers did not appear. Ultimately, the wolf took one of the fattest sheep (Fables, 2012).
The moral of the story, as told by the shepherd, is ‘Nobody believes a liar, even when he’s speaking the truth.’
From this story, the reader/listener can derive an advisory on what befalls someone who is branded a liar. When one has lost his credibility as
Name:
Course Title:
Class:
Date: 26 October 2012
The boy who cried Wolf
Stories are often a staple in every child’s bedtime routine. It is a tradition around the world, for parents, to read to their children, before heading for the bedtime lamp.
In most cases, such stories serve a purpose to amuse a child and even to widen a child’s imagination.
In others, stories can also provide a lesson on morality. These stories are better known as fables. Amongst all fables, Aesop’s fables are perhaps the most renowned.
For this essay, I would be sharing a popular story, titled: The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This story has been retold countless times, and imparts the lesson of the effects of lying.
This story involves a boy, who has a job of guarding a flock of sheep against wolves (Fables, 2012). Whenever he spots a wolf, he would have to ring a bell and cry out ‘Wolf!’. This is to alert the villagers who would come rushing out, armed and ready to tackle the wolf. (Fables, 2012)
After days without any sight of wolf, the boy grows bored. To provide some form of entertainment, the boy decides to pretend that a wolf is attacking. The villagers, alerted to the boy’s cries, arrived without any sight of wolf. The villagers believing that the wolf had escaped, praises the boy for his effort. (Fables, 2012)
The boy laps up all the attention and repeats the same trick, only this time; the villagers ignored him after realizing they have been fooled (Fables, 2012).
Eventually, a wolf attacks the flock of sheep. Despite the repeated cries for help, the villagers did not appear. Ultimately, the wolf took one of the fattest sheep (Fables, 2012).
The moral of the story, as told by the shepherd, is ‘Nobody believes a liar, even when he’s speaking the truth.’
From this story, the reader/listener can derive an advisory on what befalls someone who is branded a liar. When one has lost his credibility as
Bibliography: Fables, A. (2012, October 26). BBC . Retrieved October 26, 2012, from School Radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/subjects/english/aesops_fables/33-40/boy_who_cried_wolf Gregory, M. (2009). Shaped by Stories. Retrieved Octobner 26, 2012, from www.undpress.nd.edu: http://www3.undpress.nd.edu/excerpts/P01318-ex.pdf Teaching Values. (2009). Using Narratives to Communicate Values. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from Teaching Values: http://www.teachingvalues.com/usingnarratives.html Thomas G. Bowie, J. (2009, November 13-14). Memory and Meaning: The Need for Narrative Reflections on the Symposium “Twentieth Century Warfare and American Memory”. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from www.wlajournal.com: http://wlajournal.com/23_1/images/bowie.pdf