Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Aesop's Fables, "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"

In honor of Paper #2, I figured it would be fun to tell you all what my favorite childhood fable is. The Boy Who Cried Wolf was probably one of the first fables that I heard as a child and it is still my absolute favorite! I find it really fascinating because unlike numerous other fables where the main characters are animals, the main character in this fable is a human boy. Yet, his actions are based on the relationship between animals. He plays with the challenging (and often stereotypical) relationship between the wolf and the lamb in order to fool the townspeople who are afraid that there is a wolf that is going to eat their sheep. I think that the overall lesson of "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth" is a very relevant lesson in the lives of children, who are usually the audience to this fable, because lying is often seen as the easy way out. Yet, lying will only last for so long, just as the fable suggests. I think this fable is interesting as well because it leads the reader to think about how humans have the capacity to save animals from the normal "circle of life." The boy cries wolf when he truly sees a wolf because he sees that the wolf is going to kill a lamb. He has the ability to save the lamb, but ultimately his actions get in the way and the circle of life in the animal world continues. Overall, I've always been fascinated with this story and I'm sure I'll be telling it to my future children one day.

Here is a link to the story for those of you who would love to refresh your memory on this classic fable:
https://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html

Also, here is a cute little video telling the fable as well:


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