High up on a green, grassy hill, lived a young shepherd boy named Pip. His job was to watch the fluffy white sheep as they nibbled on grass. Munch, munch, munch went the sheep. Pip sighed. It was a bit boring.

One sunny afternoon, Pip had an idea. A mischievous idea! He took a deep breath and shouted as loud as he could, "WOLF! WOLF! A big, scary wolf is here!"

The villagers from the town below heard his shouts. They grabbed their rakes and hoes and anything they could find, and ran up the hill as fast as their legs could carry them. "Where's the wolf, Pip? Are you okay?" they panted.

But when they got there, Pip was just giggling. "Fooled you!" he said. "There's no wolf! I was just playing a trick."
The villagers were not very happy. They grumbled and went back down the hill, muttering about silly boys.

A few days later, Pip felt bored again. The sheep were still munching. Munch, munch, munch. "This is too much fun!" he thought, remembering his last trick. So he shouted, "WOLF! WOLF! Help, the wolf is back! It's even bigger this time!"

Again, the kind villagers dropped everything and rushed up the hill. And again, Pip was just laughing. "Got you again!" he chuckled.
This time, the villagers were even crosser. "Don't do that again, Pip!" one of them said sternly. "It's not funny to lie." They huffed and puffed their way back down.

Then, one sunny afternoon, as Pip was watching his fluffy sheep, he saw something move in the bushes. It wasn't a rabbit. It wasn't a squirrel. It was... a real WOLF! A big, hungry-looking wolf with pointy teeth and glowing eyes, sneaking towards his sheep.

Pip was truly scared this time. His heart went thump-thump-thump. "WOLF! WOLF!" he screamed, louder than ever before. "A real wolf! Please help! It's really here this time!"

Down in the village, the people heard him. But they just shook their heads. "Oh, that's just Pip trying to trick us again," said one farmer. "He won't fool us this time," said a baker, wiping flour from her hands. And so, nobody came.

The wolf, seeing no one was coming, chased Pip's poor sheep. Some of them ran away, and the wolf even managed to scare them all over the hillside.

Pip was very sad and very sorry. He ran down to the village, crying for real this time. "A wolf really came! And you didn't believe me! My sheep are scattered everywhere!"

An old, wise villager looked at him kindly and said, "Pip, if you tell lies, people won't believe you even when you're telling the truth."

Pip learned a very important lesson that day. It's always best to tell the truth, because then people will trust you when it really, really matters. And from that day on, Pip never cried "wolf" unless there really was one.

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