Folk Tales

Folk Tales

The simple tales of village folk, the charm of the magician, the intelligent wife of the poor farmer and several other themes talk about the rich heritage of folk tales.

The Clever Wolf

  There was a shepherd named Bhola in a village. Every morning he used to take his sheep flock to the farms for grazing. Till the time, the sheep grazed on the farms, Bhola used to sit keeping a watch on them. After they finished with the food, he used to gather them all together and take them back home. Sometimes, when he used to be tired or sleepy, he used to take a small nap under a tree till the time the sheep grazed in the farms.

One day, a wolf strayed in the farm in search of prey. The shepherd saw the wolf. The wolf was at a distance and it did not come near the sheep. The shepherd watched the wolf closely keeping vigilance on every move of his. However, the wolf did not do any harm. On the way back home, the shepherd was guarding his flock. The wolf kept following the shepherd from a distance till the shepherd reached home.

The wolf followed the shepherd everyday. Everyday the wolf watched the shepherd and his flock but did not move towards causing them any harm. Because of this behavior of the wolf, the shepherd became less cautioned about the security of his flock. This followed for many days. After some days, the shepherd started himself looking forward for the wolf’s presence.

The wolf appeared like a sheep dog from a distance. The shepherd thought of his as the guard to his flock. He thought the wolf to be a protector of his flocks from other wild animals. The other villagers too seemed to be scared of the wolf.

The wolf had become the guardian of the sheep according to the shepherd. One day, the shepherd was called home in urgency when his flock was still grazing. The shepherd found it difficult and time consuming to take the flock back home. So he left the flock for grazing under the guardianship of the wolf.

After the work was done, the shepherd came back to his flock. He was surprised to find the bones and carcasses of half of his sheep. Only a few of them were alive.

Later he got to know the wolf had pretended for days to be a guardian. He was waiting for the moment the shepherd would leave the flock in his hands and he would eat them away.