The boy who cried wolf
Alasdair
"The boy who cried wolf"
--
Alasdair.
Paul E Collins
> Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and
> origin of the phrase "The boy who cried wolf"
It's from an old fable.
A boy, entrusted to look after a flock of sheep, gets bored and shouts
"Help! Wolf!", then mocks the villagers who came running because there
was no wolf after all. Later, when there really *is* a wolf, the
villagers assume the boy is lying again and his shouts go ignored.
Eq.
joetaxpayer
Alasdair wrote:
> Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and origin of the phrase
> "The boy who cried wolf"
>
google is your friend
http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/boy.html
The simple punch line is; The boy lied, crying 'wolf' to warn his
neighbors, many times. This was very annoying. When a real wolf came, no
one responded to the boy, who, as happens in many children's bedtime
stories, is eaten by the wolf. He survives the version linked above, but
the proper ending has him dying by the wolf.
Ray O'Hara
"Paul E Collins" <find_my_re...@CL4.org> wrote in message
news:l66dnaFZS-r...@bt.com...
It seems Aesop is no longer in the curriculum. It is more impoertant to
teach kids about Heathers two mommies or that it is okay to be depressed.
The Boston Globe had an article on sunday about some modern teaching methods
including this sone sung to the tune of Frere Jaques
" I am special
I am special
yes I am ,
yes I am....
mm
wrote:
>
>"Paul E Collins" <find_my_re...@CL4.org> wrote in message
>news:l66dnaFZS-r...@bt.com...
>> "Alasdair" <ma...@bobaxter.coo.uk> wrote:
>>
>> > Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and
>> > origin of the phrase "The boy who cried wolf"
>>
>> It's from an old fable.
>>
>> A boy, entrusted to look after a flock of sheep, gets bored and shouts
>> "Help! Wolf!", then mocks the villagers who came running because there
>> was no wolf after all. Later, when there really *is* a wolf, the
>> villagers assume the boy is lying again and his shouts go ignored.
>>
>> Eq.
>>
>>
>
>It seems Aesop is no longer in the curriculum.
If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't in the curriculum where I
went to school 50 years ago. (Of course before No Child Left Behind,
different school systemss had different curricula** so different
people learned different things instead of everyone learning the same
100 things.) **They all taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history,
science etc. but the details they included were different. Now a lot
of schools do nothing but teach to the test, and others do too much of
that.
It was actually annoying to me as a small child that adults would say
things like "A bird in the hand", without ever finishing the sentence.
It's really incomprenhensible if you have never heard the second half.
But someone, not in school, probably my mother, told me the story of
the boy who cried wolf. Although I don't think it was ever directly
relevant to me, I think she told it when she thought it might be
relevant.
> It is more impoertant to
>teach kids about Heathers two mommies or that it is okay to be depressed.
>The Boston Globe had an article on sunday about some modern teaching methods
>including this sone sung to the tune of Frere Jaques
>" I am special
> I am special
> yes I am ,
> yes I am....
I don't know how much of this there is, In some cases I would agree
that it is a waste of time, or even bad, and in other cases, I'm sure
I would not. But I do know the federal government should get out of
local schools and if the schools in Mississippi stink, it's sad for
the chidlren there, but it's mostly their problem. The Feds cant' fix
it anyhow.
If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)
contrex
wrote:
And he gets eaten by the wolf, doesn't he?
mm
wrote:
Yes. That's how the story ends.
You can see his name incribed on the Shepherd's Memorial, in Billings,
Montana, along with 12 other named and unnamed children eaten by
wolves in the course of their duties.
Mike Lyle
> Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and origin of the phrase
> "The boy who cried wolf"
Did you find _all_ of the 201,000 Google hits for the phrase hard to
understand?
--
Mike.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Robin Bignall
wrote:
I like that. Name them, shame them, and then have them eaten by
wolves. Beats our UK ASBO practice hands down.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England
Ray O'Hara
"mm" <NOPSAM...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:n44kv2tvr96lp2jr0...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:51:47 -0500, "Ray O'Hara" <r...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >"Paul E Collins" <find_my_re...@CL4.org> wrote in message
> >news:l66dnaFZS-r...@bt.com...
> >> "Alasdair" <ma...@bobaxter.coo.uk> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and
> >> > origin of the phrase "The boy who cried wolf"
> >>
> >> It's from an old fable.
> >>
> >> A boy, entrusted to look after a flock of sheep, gets bored and shouts
> >> "Help! Wolf!", then mocks the villagers who came running because there
> >> was no wolf after all. Later, when there really *is* a wolf, the
> >> villagers assume the boy is lying again and his shouts go ignored.
> >>
> >> Eq.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >It seems Aesop is no longer in the curriculum.
>
> If it makes you feel any better, he wasn't in the curriculum where I
> went to school 50 years ago. (Of course before No Child Left Behind,
> different school systemss had different curricula** so different
> people learned different things instead of everyone learning the same
> 100 things.) **They all taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history,
> science etc. but the details they included were different. Now a lot
> of schools do nothing but teach to the test, and others do too much of
> that.
>
At the very least it was on The Rocky and Bullwinke Show, {fractured fairy
tales segment}
> It was actually annoying to me as a small child that adults would say
> things like "A bird in the hand", without ever finishing the sentence.
> It's really incomprenhensible if you have never heard the second half.
>
Did you ask for clarification?
mm
wrote:
>
>> It was actually annoying to me as a small child that adults would say
>> things like "A bird in the hand", without ever finishing the sentence.
>> It's really incomprenhensible if you have never heard the second half.
>>
>
>Did you ask for clarification?
I wasnt' that type. I was between 6 and 10. And they weren't
talking to me when they said these things. I just waited and
eventually found out what the whose saying was.
mm
<docr...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>>>> A boy, entrusted to look after a flock of sheep, gets bored and shouts
>>>> "Help! Wolf!", then mocks the villagers who came running because there
>>>> was no wolf after all. Later, when there really *is* a wolf, the
>>>> villagers assume the boy is lying again and his shouts go ignored.
>>>>
>>>> Eq.
>>>
>>>And he gets eaten by the wolf, doesn't he?
>>
>>Yes. That's how the story ends.
>>
>>You can see his name incribed on the Shepherd's Memorial, in Billings,
>>Montana, along with 12 other named and unnamed children eaten by
>>wolves in the course of their duties.
Just kidding, of course.
>I like that. Name them, shame them, and then have them eaten by
>wolves. Beats our UK ASBO practice hands down.
>--
>Robin Bignall
>Herts, England
Good to hear from you, Robin. I don't read this group very often
anymore -- too much work to do -- so greetings from the USA.
(We used to live next door to a British woman, and my mother would
write her when we were coming home from visiting my grandmother, and
she would go to the grocery (which was only open from 9 to 6 m-f or
m-sa, when I was little) and get us whatever my mother asked for in
the letter. Well, one year, my mother forgot to include the cereal
Cheerios in the list. So on the envelope, she had wrote in script
"And Cheerios"
And when we arrived home and my mother saw Mrs. Lewis, as she was
leaving, Mrs. Lewis said "And cheerio to you too!")
Martin Ambuhl
> Please, can someone explain to me the meaning and origin of the phrase
> "The boy who cried wolf"
Caxton's version of 1484, the first in English. Thee modern reprint by
Robert T. Lenaghan (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1967) is no
longer available from amazon.com.
6.10. Of the child
whiche kepte the sheep
He whiche is acustommed to make lesynges
how be it that he saye trouhte
yet men byleue hym not
As reherceth this fable
Of a child whiche somtyme kepte sheep
the whiche cryed ofte withoute cause
sayenge
Allas for goddes loue socoure yow me
For the wulf wylle ete my sheep
And whanne the labourers that cultyued and ered the erthe aboute hym
herd his crye
they came to help hym
the whiche came so many tymes
and fond nothyng
And as they sawe that there were no wulues
they retorned to theyr labourage
And the child dyd so many tymes for to playe hym
It happed on a day that the wulf came
and the child cryed as he was acustommed to doo
And by cause that the labourers supposed
that hit had not ben trouthe
abode stylle at theyr laboure
wherfore the wulf dyd ete the sheep
For men bileue not lyghtly hym / whiche is knowen for a lyer
*****
Steinhowel's 1501 Latin text. It can be found in _Steinhowels Asop_,
ed. Hermann Osterley (1873).
6.10. De puero oves pascente
Qui cognoscitur mentiri, ei veritas postea non creditur. De hoc talis
dicitur fabula. Puer quidam, cum oves in eminentiori loco depasceret,
sepius clamabat: Heus, o a lupis mihi succurrite! Qui circumaderant
cultores agrorum, cultum omittentes ac illi occurrentes, ac nihil esse
comperientes ad opera sua redeunt. Cum pluries puer id ioci causa
fecisset, ecce cum lupus pro certo adesset, puer ut sibi succurratur,
serio clamat; agricole id verum non esse putantes, cum minime
occurrerent, lupus oves facile perdidit, nam puero mentienti non credebatur.
*****
Sir Roger L'Estrange's version of 1692. It is available as
_Fables of Aesop According to Sir Roger L'Estrange, with Fifty Drawings_
by Alexander Calder (Dover Publications, 1967), ISBN-10: 0486217809 &
ISBN-13: 978-0486217802
75. A BOY AND FALSE ALARMS
A Shepherd’s Boy had gotten a roguy Trick of crying [a Wolfe, a Wolfe]
when there was no such Matter, and fooling the Country People with false
Alarms. He had been at this Sport so many times in Jest, that they would
not believe him at last he was in Earnest: And so the Wolves brake in
upon the Flock, and worry’d the Sheep at Pleasure.
THE MORAL. He must be a very wise Man that knows the true Bonds, and
Measures of fooling, with a respect to Time, Place, Matters, Persons,
&c. But Religion, Business, and Cases of Consequence must be expected
out of that sort of Liberty.
*****
George Fyler Townsend's translation of 1867, is available from Project
Gutenberg. Bookmark PG is you haven't already <http://promo.net/pg/>.
74. The Shepherd's Boy and the Wolf
A SHEPHERD-BOY, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, brought out
the villagers three or four times by crying out, 'Wolf! Wolf!' and when
his neighbors came to help him, laughed at them for their pains. The
Wolf, however, did truly come at last. The Shepherd-boy, now really
alarmed, shouted in an agony of terror: 'Pray, do come and help me; the
Wolf is killing the sheep'; but no one paid any heed to his cries, nor
rendered any assistance. The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his
leisure lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.
There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth.
*****
_The Fables of Aesop_, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by Richard
Heighway (1894). The text is available from Project Gutenberg. Bookmark
PG is you haven't already <http://promo.net/pg/>. The book is available
in the Dover Juvenile Series, ISBN-10: 0613979907 & ISBN-13: 978-0613979900
43. The Shepherd's Boy
There was once a young Shepherd Boy who tended his sheep at the foot of
a mountain near a dark forest. It was rather lonely for him all day, so
he thought upon a plan by which he could get a little company and some
excitement. He rushed down towards the village calling out "Wolf, Wolf,"
and the villagers came out to meet him, and some of them stopped with
him for a considerable time. This pleased the boy so much that a few
days afterwards he tried the same trick, and again the villagers came to
his help. But shortly after this a Wolf actually did come out from the
forest, and began to worry the sheep, and the boy of course cried out
"Wolf, Wolf," still louder than before. But this time the villagers, who
had been fooled twice before, thought the boy was again deceiving them,
and nobody stirred to come to his help. So the Wolf made a good meal off
the boy's flock, and when the boy complained, the wise man of the
village said:
"A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth."
*****
from Chambry's 1925/1926 first edition of the fables. The much depleted
second edition of Chambry is now the standard one, where this is
numbered 318. The Chambry text is the basis of misleadingly named
_The Complete Fables, Aesop_ , of Olivia and Robert Temple (Penguin,
1998). It appears in the Temple's text as '318. The Joking Shephard' .
Ποιμὴν παίζων.
Καὶ που παιδίον ποίμνια νέμον ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ τόπου ἱστάμενον πολλάκις
ἀνέκραγε· Βοηθεῖτέ μοι, λύκοι. Οἱ δὲ ἀγρότεροι τρέχοντες ἐν τῇ ποίμνῃ
τοῦτον ηὕρισκον μηδαμῶς ἀληθεύοντα. Τοῦτο δὲ πολλάκις τοῦ παιδὸς
πραξαμένου, οἱ τοιοῦτοι συνήρχοντο καὶ ἀεὶ ψεῦδος εὑρίσκοντες ἀπήρχοντο.
Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα τοῦ λύκου προσελθόντος, ὁ παῖς ἐβόα· Ὁ λύκος, δεῦτε. Ἐπεὶ
δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐπίστευεν οὐδ' ἀπήρχετο βοηθῆσαι, ὁ λύκος ἀδείας λαβόμενος,
εὐκόλως τὴν ποίμνην πᾶσαν διέφθειρεν.
Ὁ μῦθος δηλοῖ ὅτι τοσοῦτον οὐκ ὠφελεῖ τινα τὸ μὴ λαλεῖν τὰ ἀληθῆ ὅσον
δεῖ φοβεῖσθαι μήπως ἐκ τούτου οὐδὲ τὰ ἀληθῆ λέγων εἰσακούσθῃ.
*****
Aesop's Fables. A new translation by Laura Gibbs. Oxford University
Press (World's Classics): Oxford, 2002.
151. THE BOY WHO CRIED 'WOLF'
There was a boy tending the sheep who would continually go up to the
embankment and shout, 'Help, there's a wolf!' The farmers would all come
running only to find out that what the boy said was not true. Then one
day there really was a wolf but when the boy shouted, they didn't
believe him and no one came to his aid. The whole flock was eaten by the
wolf.
The story shows that this is how liars are rewarded: even if they tell
the truth, no one believes them.
*****