Ramu lived at the foot of a hill. He used to take the sheep from the village to the hill for grazing. One day, he was bored and he thought he should have some fun. He started shouting loudly, “Wolf! Wolf!” His cry was heard in the village. The villagers picked some sticks and rushed to the hill. To their surprise, they found no wolf. Ramu was laughing loudly. “I fooled you, folks!” he said grinning. The villagers were irritated with him. Still he was only a boy. They asked him not to play such pranks and left.
Unknown to Ramu, a wolf heard the noise and came there. The wolf watched the drama unfold from behind the bushes. He did not like his name being dragged into this prank. “I must do something,” he thought as he left the place.
The next day, the wolf came and stood behind the bushes watching Ramu grazing the sheep. Just then, Ramu started shouting, “Wolf! Wolf!!” The wolf was alarmed to see villagers rushing in with long sticks. Fortunately for him, the villagers could not see the wolf hiding behind the bushes. Ramu was rolling on the ground laughing. “I fooled you again,” he said. The villagers were upset with Ramu. They warned him not to play such pranks.
The wolf saw from behind the bushes, villagers turning back. The wolf was now sure that if Ramu were to shout for help none of them would come to his rescue. So, he came out of the bushes.
Ramu was shocked to see the wolf. The real wolf! A big bad wolf! He shook with fear and his throat ran dry. Still he managed to cry out, “Help! Help!!”
The wolf laughed aloud. “Nobody will come to your help. They will think you are playing a prank again,” he said.
As the wolf took a step forward, Ramu out of fear, fainted.
When he opened his eyes, he was relieved he was still alive. But he found one of the sheep, the fattest sheep, was missing. The wolf had carried it away. He hurriedly herded the sheep to the village.
The fat sheep belonged to the Village Chief. He was upset that his favourite sheep was missing. Ramu explained that the wolf had carried it away.
“You are lying. You have stolen the sheep and sold it,” said the Chief and drove Ramu away.
Ramu went to another village and managed to get some other job. But he had learnt his lesson.
