The fables of Aesop by William Caxton (Jacobs)/Vol. II/Other Aesop's/Fable 10

¶ The tenth fable is of the child / whiche kepte the sheep

 

E whiche is acustomed to make lesynges / how be it that he saye trouthe / Yet men byleue hym not / As reherceth this fable / Of a child whiche somtyme kepte sheep / the whiche cryed ofte withoute cause / sayenge / Allas for goddes loue socoure yow me / For the wulf wylle ete my sheep / And whanne the labourers that cultyued and ered the erthe aboute hym / herd his crye / they come to helpe hym / the whiche came so many tymes / and fond nothyng / And as they sawe that there were no wulues / they retorned to theyr labourrage / And the child dyd so many tymes for to playe hym / ¶ It happed on a day that the wulf came / and the child cryed as he was acustomed to doo / And by cause that the labourers supposed / that hit had not ben trouthe / abode stylle at theyr laboure / wherfore the wulf dyd ete the sheep / For men bileue not lyghtly hym / whiche is knowen for a lyer