Here's the famous Aesop's fable, the Boy Who Cried Wolf:
A Shepherd-boy, who watched a flock of sheep near a village, wanted some amusement during the long days he spent on the hillside guarding his sheep. So he decided to play a joke on his neighbours...
He shouted "Wolf! Wolf!" at the top of his voice, so he was heard in the village below.
The villagers dropped what they were doing and ran up the hill to help him, thinking that wolves were attacking their sheep. The boy laughed and thought this was a good trick.
The next day, the boy decided to see if he could get the villagers up the hill again. He cried "Wolf! Wolf!", and again, several villagers came out to see if he was in trouble.
On the Third day, the Wolf came.
The Shepherd-boy, now really alarmed, shouted in 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 massacred the entire flock.
Taken from: http://www.aesopresources.com/fable/boywolf.php
An interesting fable, is it not? But's let take a closer analysis:-
What's really wrong about what the boy did? I mean, he's just a boy, a bit mischievous maybe, fooling around when he was bored. I think perhaps what's so bad is his recalcitrant lying - not stopping at once, even when he had the villagers fooled, but no, he had to do it again! And the poor villagers - amongst those who went up the hill on the second day, I'm sure there must have been some who thought, "Maybe he's lying again, but let's just believe in him once more."
Do you know what the moral of the fable is? It's not some gentle admonishment, "Don't cry wolf until it really comes." No, I'm afraid the moral is harsher, and clearer, than that - it's "There is no believing a liar, even when he is speaking the truth." Whoa - that's really harsh isn't it? Quite cynical - bitter, even.
But isn't that what the fable is about? Even though this short tale is titled "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", don't forget the other stars in this story - the villagers. The ones who believed in the boy again and again despite being lied to repeatedly. (in some other versions of this fable, the boy's crime is not repeated twice, but three or four times; see http://classics.mit.edu/Aesop/fab.1.1.html) The ones who end up kicking themselves for believing in him yet again.
If you were the boy, would you be angry at the end of the tale? Would you dare be angry at the villagers for not believing you? Would you blame them for not trusting in your word after you have lied to them time and time again? Would you dare be angry?
I know I wouldn't.
But supposing again, you are the boy, and you have indeed reformed. So you go around telling everyone that you'll never cry wolf again. How many do you think would believe you now? And even amongst those who wish to give you a second chance, don't you think there would be doubters? Especially, perhaps, the villagers who went up the hill many, many times before giving up on you.
So it seems pretty sad when you look at it like that, isn't it? You make a few mistakes and people don't trust you anymore, no matter how hard you try. And from this perspective, the moral of this fable no longer looks like a warning against believing liars, it begins to look more like a sad truth of life - there really is no believing (for) a liar, even when he is telling the truth. I mean, how would you know when's the truth and when's not?
So what can the poor boy do now? I don't know. Never lie ever again, I suppose. But ever again is a long long time, and unfortunately, that's exactly how long it's going to take.
