The boy who cried wolf
A boy called Peter lived with his parents in a village on the hillside. His parents, like most of the other people in the village, were sheep farmers. Everybody in the village took turns to look after the sheep, and when Peter was 10 years old, he was considered old enough to take his turn at shepherding.
But Peter was too easily bored, and he found it very tiresome being on the hillside with only sheep for company. So he’d find ways to amuse himself, running up rocks, climbing trees, chasing sheep, but nothing really kept him amused for very long. Then he hit upon a brilliant idea. He climbed to the top of the tallest tree, and started shouting towards the village: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”
One of the villagers heard him, and got all the other men together, and armed with axes, hoes and forks, they ran out of the village to chase away the wolf and save their herd. Of course when they got there, they merely found Peter perched high up in his tree, laughing, and the sheep grazing peacefully. They were very annoyed with him. That night Peter got a spanking from his mother and was sent to bed without any supper.
For a while life went on again as normal, and people forgot about the incident. Peter managed to behave himself whenever it was his turn to mind the sheep. Until one day, he got really bored again. He picked up some sticks, and running through where the sheep were grazing, he started hitting the sticks together, and shouting: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”
Sure enough, somebody in the village heard and before long the men all come running up the hill armed with their sticks and axes and hoes and shovels, ready to chase away the big bad wolf, and save their sheep and the poor shepherd boy.Imagine their consternation when they arrived in the field to see their herd grazing peacefully, and Peter sitting on a big rock, laughing uncontrollably.
That night Peter got a good telling off, an even better spanking from his mother, and was again sent to bed without any supper. For a few days people in the village went around moaning about Peter and his tricks, but before long things settled down again, and life resumed its normal uneventful course, and Peter had to do his turn at shepherding again every now and then. He decided he should behave himself, he really didn’t want to upset everybody all the time, and he especially didn’t want another one of his mother’s spankings!
Then, one afternoon when Peter was in the fields with the sheep, he noticed some of them were getting nervous, they started bleating and running hither and thither. Peter didn’t know what was the cause of this strange behaviour; sheep were running all over and making an ever-louder racket. He got worried and decided to climb a tree so he could see what was going on. He balanced on a sturdy branch and looked around, what he saw almost made him fall out of the tree. There was a great big hairy wolf, chasing the sheep, biting at their legs, snapping at their tails. For a few seconds Peter was speechless. Then he started shouting: “Wolf! Wolf! Wolf!”
In the village an old man heard the shouting. “Oh no, not that Peter again”, he said, shaking his head. “What’s going on?” enquired another villager. “It’s that Peter again, he just can’t help himself”.
“That boy needs to be the centre of attention all the time”, said another. “Wait till his mother gets a hold of him”, added yet another. Nobody believed that this time there really was a wolf, and nobody got their hoe out, or their axe, or their shovel. All the sticks were left in the sheds and nobody rushed up the hillside. It wasn’t until very much later that afternoon, that the boy sent to take over the shepherding from Peter found dead sheep’s bodies strewn all over the hillside, and Peter still up there in his tree, whimpering, that the villagers found out there really had been a wolf this time.
At last Peter learnt his lesson, that if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t.
Key Characters:
- Peter
- The villagers
- The wolf
Key locations:
- The field
- Village
Title Idea:
‘The Girl Who Cried Ghost’
Ideas:
Original Event:
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Alternate Event/Scenario:
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Peter yelling ‘wolf!’ as a joke
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A girl yelling ‘ghost!’ as a joke to scare the other girls in the boarding house
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Peter getting in trouble for tricking the villagers
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Everyone in the boarding house getting angry at the girl for scaring them
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Peter spots a wolf that starts attacking all the sheep and starts yelling ‘wolf!’
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A girl wakes up in the middle of the night to find a white figure looking down at her, and starts freaking out and yelling ‘ghost!’ but the only response she gets is ‘shut up! I’m trying to sleep!’
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The villagers find Peter hiding in a tree and find out that there was actually a wolf
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The other girls wake up in the morning and find that the ‘girl who cried ghost’ is nowhere to be found.
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Alternate settings/locations:
- Whitby boarding house
- The ‘graveyard’ dorm
- Girl’s bedroom
- Unlit Hallway
- Creepy unlit bathroom
- Old Day reception/music rooms
- Old boardroom
- Old, old hall/costume storage area
Ideas on changing/altering main character:
The girl is very much like Peter; she gets bored very easily and likes to joke around. The only real difference is that she is a girl and doesn’t have sheep.
Key Characters:
Protagonist:
- Nathalie Kors
Antagonist:
- Nathalie’s boredom and need to prank people.
- The paranormal thing/ghost
Plot Idea:
Nathalie is a boarder at St Hilda’s boarding school. Nathalie is easily bored and enjoys playing pranks on, and scaring people. One night, Nathalie is over her usual pranking; jumping out of peoples cupboards, tying string to people doors and making them seem like they’re closing there selves, and the other usual boring pranks. She decides that she is just going to forget it and go to bed. The problem is, without finishing off her day with a little prank, Nathalie can’t get to sleep because she feels as if he day is ‘incomplete’. It’s around 1:00am and Nathalie suddenly yells out, “Ah! It’s a ghost! Help! Help!” Suddenly everyone has woken up and starts screaming, only to hear Nathalie giggling in her room. Satisfied with her pranking for the night, Nathalie falls asleep. The next night, at around 12:00am, Nathalie decides to do the same prank again. She let’s out a sharp, high-pitched scream and then yells “Ghost! Ghost!” Just like before, everyone in her dorm woke up and began freaking out, turning lights on. Again, they heard the feint sound of giggling coming from Nathalie’s room. This time Nathalie has decided that that is enough and that people might be getting really annoyed being woken up in the middle of the night. The next morning Nathalie is checking her emails and she sees that she has a new email. She opens the email and it reads ‘if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t. Forward this to 5 people within the next hour or a ghost will come and get you while you sleep.’ Like any normal person, Nathalie disregarded this email and continued with her everyday life. That night, everyone falls asleep. At 2:00am in the morning, Nathalie has to get up to go to the toilet. She begins walking down the unlit hallway, and towards the shining lights inside the toilets, just downstairs from her dorm. As she walks in, the lights begin flickering and Nathalie begins to panic. She then just realises that it must be something wrong with the power and continues. She then begins feeling breathing on her neck whilst she is washing her hands and then suddenly a feint whisper in her ear. “Run.” It whispers. Straight away Nathalie starts screaming at the top of her lungs and begins running down the hallway and back up the stairs to her dorm. “Ghost! Ghost!” She yells as she makes her way up the stairs. The only answer she gets this time is “Shut up Nathalie! I’m trying to sleep”. Nathalie just makes it to the top of the stairs and yells “Help me pl…” Her last word is interrupted by a loud thump. The next morning Nathalie is no where to be found, but a note is found on the ground that reads “if you always tell lies, people will eventually stop believing you; and then when you’re telling the truth for a change, when you really need them to believe you, they won’t.”
