THE BOY WHO CRIED “WOLF”:  A FAIRY TALE UPDATED FOR THE 21^ST CENTURY

(this story is dedicated to fine Canadian bloggers  Kathy Shaidle and Kate Youngsam)

Once upon a time there was a young shepherd boy, named Fibley, who was tending to his flock. He thought it would be great fun to pretend that a wolf had eaten some of his sheep.  He thought it would be fun to have the village men come running out to his fields, and how important he would feel and how entertaining it would be. Nobody ever gave him much respect as a young shepherd, and this way he could cause all the important men to come running, and all he had to do was cry “wolf”.

 

So he cried “wolf” and all the men came running, but of course when they got to his field there was no evidence of a wolf having eaten any of the sheep.  He just shrugged his shoulders, and the men grumbled and went away. Fibley shouted after them, "Somebody must have stolen the carcasses, they were here a minute ago."

 

The next week, Fibley was feeling bored and unimportant again, and he recalled how much fun it was to watch all the men of the village come running, so once again he cried “wolf”, and most of the men again came to the rescue of the sheep.  But once again there was no evidence of a wolf, and the men grumbled a little more this time, and went away.    Again Fibley suggested that somebody must be out to get him, and was taking the carcasses away to make him look bad.

 

And so the next week, Fibley did it again;  not as many men came running but among those who did was a certain villager, named Judah, who was very angry.  He said, “Look at how this young shepherd, no more than 15 years old plays us all for fools. Can’t you see he is a liar?  Next time he calls I am not bothering with such a liar.”

 

The next day, Judah was very surprised to read in the village newsletter a story about how one of the villagers was prejudiced against young people and prejudiced against shepherds.   So he read the full article and he was very surprised to learn that the article was about him!

 

In it, Fibley, the shepherd boy, was interviewed after he made a complaint to the village human rights commission, stating that Judah was obviously prejudiced against poor boys like him, young boys like him, and shepherds in general.  Other shepherd boys had come forward to complain how tough is the life of a shepherd, how boring it is, and how little respect people were having for them, now that Judah was telling people that this shepherd boy was a liar.

 

In the newsletter, other shepherds came forward and explained that they too had been subject of nasty comments by Judah, whenever Judah thought their sheep were grazing on his potato fields, and even when they were nowhere near his potato fields.   The Mayor of the village emphasized that he was Mayor of all the people, and shepherds should not be thought of as being lesser than others in the village.  He said the issue was not what the poor shepherd boy had said or not said, but instead how he felt humiliated and discriminated against by Judah’s cruel words.   Judah wanted to go and talk to the newsletter’s reporter and tell him all about having had friends who were shepherds, good truthful people, who Judah had helped in the past, but the reporter said he was busy and couldn’t talk to him.

Judah was so shocked.   He told his neighbour Edward that the boy was lying, and what’s more all the shepherd boys were lying when they made up stories about comments he had made to them in the past.   Edward looked at him in an odd fashion, and walked away.   The next day, Edward was interviewed in the newsletter and he alleged that Judah told him he thought all shepherd boys were liars.

 

Meantime, the shepherd boys had a meeting and elected Fibley the head of  new organization for shepherd boys called, “People to End Racist Judgments Upsetting Really Ernest Reprehensible Shepherd-boys” – P.E.R.J.U.R.E.R.S.   Fibley called a town hall meeting so that his organization could talk to the village elders about the horrible wrong committed against them by Judah.

 

So, all the important men and women came to the town hall meeting.  Speaker after speaker from P.E.R.J.U.R.E.R.S. repeated stories about how Judah’s allegations had affected them personally, how they suffered and were humiliated, just by being shepherd-boys.   They argued that Judah had made it seem that just being a shepherd boy was evidence of a crime.

 

The village elders all agreed that Judah should be put on trial before the local human rights commission.  Judah attempted to explain that he didn’t think all shepherd boys were liars, but unfortunately the shepherd boys who joined P.E.R.J.U.R.E.R.S. were in fact lying.    The Mayor shouted back at Judah, “How dare you humiliate this poor group of uneducated young men.   Just because you are an educated village person does not give you the right to humiliate the members of this group.”

 

Before the matter got to the village human rights commission, Fibley produced a video clip of some young shepherd boys crouched down behind a fence in the fields while Judah pelted them with rocks.  After that, P.E.R.J.U.R.E.R.S. produced a signed deed showing that Judah had transferred the title to his potato field and cottage to Fibley in trust for P.E.R.J.U.R.E.R.S.   When the sheriff came to arrest him and remove him from the house, so that Fibley could move in, Judah protested, “Don’t you see that this group is not like us in the village, who tell the truth.   They have a habit of telling lies!”

 

“Now why would they do that?” said the sheriff as he dragged Judah out of the house.

 

“Because” said Judah, “it seems they can accomplish more by telling lies than they can by telling the truth.”   The Sheriff glared at him and gave him a punch in the kidneys, as he dragged him along the ground.

 

When the newsletter printed all of this, the local men of the village had had enough.   They found Judah sleeping in a pile of leaves just outside his property. They hung a sign around his neck, reading “Racist”, they cut his throat, and the whole village was glad to be rid of this troublemaker.