Reece: Myths

Reece High School, Tasmania

Myths about the Wolf

The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Wolf and The Stork
The Wolf and The Lamb

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

There was once a shepherd's boy who minded a flock of sheep in the fields. By way of a joke, he would often shout: "Wolf! wolf!" This caused the men working in the neighbouring fields to run to the rescue, but after being deceived two or three times, they decided to take no notice of the boy's shouts. Soon after, a wolf really came, and the shepherd's boy cried out in earnest. But no one took any notice of his shouts, and so his sheep were killed.

This story has survived until today, as a lesson for all. If we make a big fuss about something that is not very important, when something serious happens, no-one will believe us.

The Wolf and the Stork

A wolf, when eating his dinner one day, swallowed a bone, which stuck in his throat. He went about howling, asking every animal he met to help him, and promised a large reward to anyone who could get it out. At last, a stork, who had a long, slender neck and bill, undertook the task. Poking his long bill down the wolf's throat,he got hold of the bone and pulled it out; but when he asked for his reward the wolf laughed, and said, 'You may think yourself lucky that I did not bite your head off when it was in my mouth."

The Wolf and the Lamb

One very hot day a wolf and lamb came at the same time to a mountain stream to quench their thirst.The wolf stood higher up the hillside than the lamb; but, wanting to pick a quarrel, the wolf called out, "What do you mean by disturbing the water and making it so muddy that I cannot drink?" The lamb answered that it could not be so, because the water was running downhill from the wolf to him, and therefore he could not be disturbing it higher up. "Never mind," answered the wolf,"you have behaved very badly, and I am told you were calling me names behind my back more than a year ago." The lamb retorted, "But that was before I was born!" The wolf then flew into a passion and exclaimed, "If it were not you it must have been your father, and it comes to the same thing in the end." Then he seized the poor lamb, tore it to pieces, and ate it.

Some people need no excuses to do wrong, do they? I think these stories tell us a lot more about our fellow human beings, than about the wolf. But they indicate the attitude we have held toward the wolf for a very long time.

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