The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Boycriedwolfbarlow.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Francis Barlow (artist)|Francis Barlow]]'s illustration of the fable, 1687]] | [[File:Boycriedwolfbarlow.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Francis Barlow (artist)|Francis Barlow]]'s illustration of the fable, 1687]] | ||
'''The Boy Who Cried Wolf''' is one of [[Aesop's Fables]], numbered 210 in the [[Perry Index]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/151.htm|title=151. The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf' (Laura Gibbs, translator)|website=mythfolklore.net}}</ref> From it is derived the English idiom "to cry wolf", defined as "to give a false alarm" in ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''<ref>''The Concise Dictionary...''(Cassel Publications 1992)</ref> and glossed by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as meaning to make false claims, with the result that subsequent true claims are disbelieved.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wolf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201184310/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wolf|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 1, 2008|work=Compact [[Oxford English Dictionary]]|title=wolf|publisher=askoxford.com. [[OUP]] |date= June 2005 |access-date= 19 September 2007}}</ref> | "'''The Boy Who Cried Wolf'''" is one of [[Aesop's Fables]], numbered 210 in the [[Perry Index]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/oxford/151.htm|title=151. The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf' (Laura Gibbs, translator)|website=mythfolklore.net}}</ref> From it is derived the English idiom "to cry wolf", defined as "to give a false alarm" in ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable''<ref>''The Concise Dictionary...''(Cassel Publications 1992)</ref> and glossed by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as meaning to make false claims, with the result that subsequent true claims are disbelieved.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wolf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201184310/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/wolf|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 1, 2008|work=Compact [[Oxford English Dictionary]]|title=wolf|publisher=askoxford.com. [[OUP]] |date= June 2005 |access-date= 19 September 2007}}</ref> | ||
==Fable== | ==Fable== | ||
The tale concerns a shepherd boy who repeatedly | The tale concerns a [[shepherd]] boy who repeatedly tricks villagers into believing a wolf is attacking his flock. When a real wolf appears and the boy cries for help, the villagers dismiss it as another false alarm, allowing the wolf to devour the sheep. In a later English-language poetic version of the fable, the wolf also eats the boy. This happens in [[John Hookham Frere]]'s ''Fables for {{not a typo|Five Years Old}}'' (1830),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poetrynook.com/poem/fable-3-boy-and-wolf|title=Poem: Fable 3, Of the Boy and the Wolf by John Hookham Frere|website=www.poetrynook.com|accessdate=Apr 4, 2023}}</ref> in [[William Ellery Leonard]]'s ''Aesop & Hyssop'' (1912),<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poetrynook.com/poem/shepherd-boy-and-wolf|title=Poem: The Shepherd-Boy and the Wolf by William Ellery Leonard|website=www.poetrynook.com|accessdate=Apr 4, 2023}}</ref> and in [[Louis Untermeyer]]'s 1965 poem.<ref>[https://raynhalfpint.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/the-boy-who-cried-wolf "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"] by [[Louis Untermeyer]], raynhalfpint.wordpress.com</ref> | ||
The moral stated at the end of the Greek version is | The moral stated at the end of the Greek version is "this shows how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them". It echoes a statement attributed to [[Aristotle]] by [[Diogenes Laërtius]] in his ''The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'', in which the sage was asked what those who tell lies gain by it and he answered "that when they speak truth they are not believed".<ref>Translated by C.D. Yonge: Section XI (apophthegms) of [http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlaristotle.htm the life of Aristotle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221113849/http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlaristotle.htm |date=2011-02-21 }}</ref> [[William Caxton]] similarly closes his version with the remark that "{{Not a typo|men bileve not lyghtly hym whiche is knowen for a lyer}}".<ref>[http://mythfolklore.net/aesopica/caxton/610.htm "{{Not a typo|Of the child whiche kepte the sheep}}"] at mythfolklore.net</ref> | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
The story dates from [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] times, but, since it was recorded only in Greek and not translated into Latin until the 15th century, it only began to gain currency after it appeared in [[Heinrich Steinhöwel]]'s collection of the fables and so spread through the rest of Europe. For this reason, there was no agreed title for the story. Caxton titles it "{{Not a typo|Of the child whiche kepte the sheep}}" (1484), [[Hieronymus Osius]] "The boy who lied" ("{{Lang|la|De mendace puero}}", 1574), [[Francis Barlow (artist)|Francis Barlow]] "Of the herd boy and the farmers" ("{{Lang|la|De pastoris puero et agricolis}}", 1687), [[Roger L'Estrange]] "A boy and false alarms" (1692), and [[George Fyler Townsend]] "The shepherd boy and the wolf" (1867). It was under the final title that Edward Hughes set it as the first of ten ''Songs from Aesop's Fables'' for children's voices and piano, in a poetic version by Peter Westmore (1965).<ref>''Songs from Aesop's Fables'', [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/681853115 details on WorldCat]</ref> It also features as the second of "Aesop's Fables for narrator and band" (1999) by Scott Watson (b. 1964)<ref>[https://www.jwpepper.com/Aesop%27s-Fables/2702965.item performance and score]</ref> | The story dates from [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] times, but, since it was recorded only in Greek and not translated into Latin until the 15th century, it only began to gain currency after it appeared in [[Heinrich Steinhöwel]]'s collection of the fables and so spread through the rest of Europe. For this reason, there was no agreed title for the story. Caxton titles it "{{Not a typo|Of the child whiche kepte the sheep}}" (1484), [[Hieronymus Osius]] "The boy who lied" ("{{Lang|la|De mendace puero}}", 1574), [[Francis Barlow (artist)|Francis Barlow]] "Of the herd boy and the farmers" ("{{Lang|la|De pastoris puero et agricolis}}", 1687), [[Roger L'Estrange]] "A boy and false alarms" (1692), and [[George Fyler Townsend]] "The shepherd boy and the wolf" (1867). It was under the final title that Edward Hughes set it as the first of ten ''Songs from Aesop's Fables'' for children's voices and piano, in a poetic version by Peter Westmore (1965).<ref>''Songs from Aesop's Fables'', [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/681853115 details on WorldCat]</ref> It also features as the second of "Aesop's Fables for narrator and band" (1999) by Scott Watson (b. 1964)<ref>[https://www.jwpepper.com/Aesop%27s-Fables/2702965.item performance and score]</ref> | ||
While educators have long used "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" as a cautionary tale against deceit, an experiment conducted in the early 21st century revealed that children exposed to the fable were more prone to lying. In contrast, those who read about [[George Washington and the cherry tree]] exhibited greater honesty.<ref>{{cite book |title=Nurture Shock – New Thinking about Children|author1=Po Bronson|author2=Ashley Merryman|location=New York|publisher=Grand Central Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-0-446-56332-1|pages=83–84}}</ref> The suggestibility and favourable outcome of the behaviour described, therefore, seems the key to moral instruction of the young. However, when dealing with the moral behaviour of adults, [[Samuel Croxall]] asks, referencing political [[alarmism]], "when we are alarmed with imaginary dangers in respect of the public, till the cry grows quite stale and threadbare, how can it be expected we should know when to guard ourselves against real ones?"<ref>''The Fables of Aesop'', Fable CLV; [https://books.google.com/books?id=sFhMAAAAYAAJ&q=The+Shepherd%27s+boy available on Google Books, p. 263]</ref> | |||
Recent reports in a number of disciplines have linked the idiom derived from the fable, "crying wolf", with the phenomenon now described as "alert" or "[[alarm fatigue]]", the state referred to by Croxall above.<ref>[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(18)30072-9/fulltext "Crying wolf: the growing fatigue around sepsis alerts"], ''The Lancet Respiratory Medicine'', Volume 6/3, p. 161, March 2018</ref><ref>Alex Lee, [https://www.cyberhaven.com/blog/crying-wolf-the-challenge-of-alert-fatigue "Crying wolf – the challenge of alert fatigue"], ''Cyberhaven'', 6/9/2020</ref><ref>Monica Gonzalez, [https://www.security101.com/blog/crying-wolf-the-increasing-fatigue-around-false-alarms "Crying wolf: The increasing fatigue around false alarms"], ''Security101'', 22 Sept, 2021</ref> | Recent reports in a number of disciplines have linked the idiom derived from the fable, "crying wolf", with the phenomenon now described as "alert" or "[[alarm fatigue]]", the state referred to by Croxall above.<ref>[https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(18)30072-9/fulltext "Crying wolf: the growing fatigue around sepsis alerts"], ''The Lancet Respiratory Medicine'', Volume 6/3, p. 161, March 2018</ref><ref>Alex Lee, [https://www.cyberhaven.com/blog/crying-wolf-the-challenge-of-alert-fatigue "Crying wolf – the challenge of alert fatigue"], ''Cyberhaven'', 6/9/2020</ref><ref>Monica Gonzalez, [https://www.security101.com/blog/crying-wolf-the-increasing-fatigue-around-false-alarms "Crying wolf: The increasing fatigue around false alarms"], ''Security101'', 22 Sept, 2021</ref> | ||
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* {{Commonscatinline}} | * {{Commonscatinline}} | ||
* Laura Gibbs' gallery of 15th–20th century [https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=38299630%40N05&q=puer+mendax&m=text book illustrations of the fable] | * Laura Gibbs' gallery of 15th–20th century [https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=38299630%40N05&q=puer+mendax&m=text book illustrations of the fable] | ||
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19994/19994-h/19994-h.htm#Page_24 The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf] on [[Project Gutenberg]] | |||
* [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL436/1965/pb_LCL436.463.xml The Shepherd who cried “Wolf!” in Jest] on [[Loeb Classical Library]] | |||
{{Aesop|state=collapsed}} | {{Aesop|state=collapsed}} | ||
Latest revision as of 16:41, 14 December 2025
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"The Boy Who Cried Wolf" is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 210 in the Perry Index.[1] From it is derived the English idiom "to cry wolf", defined as "to give a false alarm" in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable[2] and glossed by the Oxford English Dictionary as meaning to make false claims, with the result that subsequent true claims are disbelieved.[3]
Fable
The tale concerns a shepherd boy who repeatedly tricks villagers into believing a wolf is attacking his flock. When a real wolf appears and the boy cries for help, the villagers dismiss it as another false alarm, allowing the wolf to devour the sheep. In a later English-language poetic version of the fable, the wolf also eats the boy. This happens in John Hookham Frere's Fables for Five Years Old (1830),[4] in William Ellery Leonard's Aesop & Hyssop (1912),[5] and in Louis Untermeyer's 1965 poem.[6]
The moral stated at the end of the Greek version is "this shows how liars are rewarded: even if they tell the truth, no one believes them". It echoes a statement attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laërtius in his The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, in which the sage was asked what those who tell lies gain by it and he answered "that when they speak truth they are not believed".[7] William Caxton similarly closes his version with the remark that "men bileve not lyghtly hym whiche is knowen for a lyer".[8]
History
The story dates from Classical times, but, since it was recorded only in Greek and not translated into Latin until the 15th century, it only began to gain currency after it appeared in Heinrich Steinhöwel's collection of the fables and so spread through the rest of Europe. For this reason, there was no agreed title for the story. Caxton titles it "Of the child whiche kepte the sheep" (1484), Hieronymus Osius "The boy who lied" ("Script error: No such module "Lang".", 1574), Francis Barlow "Of the herd boy and the farmers" ("Script error: No such module "Lang".", 1687), Roger L'Estrange "A boy and false alarms" (1692), and George Fyler Townsend "The shepherd boy and the wolf" (1867). It was under the final title that Edward Hughes set it as the first of ten Songs from Aesop's Fables for children's voices and piano, in a poetic version by Peter Westmore (1965).[9] It also features as the second of "Aesop's Fables for narrator and band" (1999) by Scott Watson (b. 1964)[10]
While educators have long used "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" as a cautionary tale against deceit, an experiment conducted in the early 21st century revealed that children exposed to the fable were more prone to lying. In contrast, those who read about George Washington and the cherry tree exhibited greater honesty.[11] The suggestibility and favourable outcome of the behaviour described, therefore, seems the key to moral instruction of the young. However, when dealing with the moral behaviour of adults, Samuel Croxall asks, referencing political alarmism, "when we are alarmed with imaginary dangers in respect of the public, till the cry grows quite stale and threadbare, how can it be expected we should know when to guard ourselves against real ones?"[12]
Recent reports in a number of disciplines have linked the idiom derived from the fable, "crying wolf", with the phenomenon now described as "alert" or "alarm fatigue", the state referred to by Croxall above.[13][14][15]
References
<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The Concise Dictionary...(Cassel Publications 1992)
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Louis Untermeyer, raynhalfpint.wordpress.com
- ↑ Translated by C.D. Yonge: Section XI (apophthegms) of the life of Aristotle Template:Webarchive
- ↑ "Of the child whiche kepte the sheep" at mythfolklore.net
- ↑ Songs from Aesop's Fables, details on WorldCat
- ↑ performance and score
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The Fables of Aesop, Fable CLV; available on Google Books, p. 263
- ↑ "Crying wolf: the growing fatigue around sepsis alerts", The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Volume 6/3, p. 161, March 2018
- ↑ Alex Lee, "Crying wolf – the challenge of alert fatigue", Cyberhaven, 6/9/2020
- ↑ Monica Gonzalez, "Crying wolf: The increasing fatigue around false alarms", Security101, 22 Sept, 2021
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External links
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- Template:Sister-inline
- Template:Commonscatinline
- Laura Gibbs' gallery of 15th–20th century book illustrations of the fable
- The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf on Project Gutenberg
- The Shepherd who cried “Wolf!” in Jest on Loeb Classical Library