knew exactly how to get lots of people to look He stood up on his rock and shouted A wolf Help A wolf is after the sheep As he yelled he saw the people from the village swarm up the hill They raced up to the boy and said Where is the wolf He must have heard you coming the boy said He left The people looked suspicious but they patted the boy on the head and went home The boy waited until they were gone and he laughed and laughed about his trick Then he decided to try it again He scrambled back up on his rock and yelled The wolf is back Help Again the people rushed up the hill And again the boy said the wolf must have rushed off Now the people shook their heads and frowned at the boy We have no time for games the village baker scolded as the villagers walked away 10
The boy decided the second time wasn’t quite as fun as the fi rst As the late afternoon sun made shadows around the sheep he wondered if calling the villagers a third time might be best of all Then he spotted a real wolf creeping out of the woods toward the sheep The boy leaped up on top of the rock and yelled A wolf Help Help The wolf backed up when the boy yelled but no one came So he raced up and grabbed the biggest fattest sheep and dragged it toward the woods The boy tried chasing the wolf with a stick but he couldn’t save the sheep all by himself When the boy fi nally took the rest of the sheep home his father scolded him sharply When you are known as a liar no one believes you even when you speak the truth 11
3 The Fox and the Grapes One hot summer day a fox trotted into the woods hoping for some shade to cool him He found a wild grapevine running high into a tree A bunch of dark plump grapes dangled from the vine above the fox’s head The fox was certain he had never seen such beautiful grapes The fox licked his dry lips and said Those delicious grapes are just the thing I need He jumped up and snapped at the grapes but he could not quite reach them He backed away from the tree and ran as fast as he could He jumped at the last second to snap at the grapes His teeth closed on empty air He still couldn’t quite reach 12
He tried to scramble into the tree to reach the grapes from above But foxes are not built to climb trees and he tumbled back to the ground Finally he fl opped on the ground hot and tired As he studied the grapes he said Now that I look at them closely they’re not so big as I thought I am sure they would be very sour So the fox got up and trotted away He never looked back at the grapes because it is easy to despise what you cannot get 13
