A much better rewrite of this, which is my retelling of the original story of the poor boy who cried wolf.
~
Long
ago there was a village which lived in constant fear of being
attacked by wolves. The wolves lived in a dark forest beside the
village, and were vicious creatures who came at night and killed many
people with their sharp teeth and long claws. To prevent any more
raids, the people built a tall bell tower in the middle of the
village so that they could know if the wolves were coming and defend
themselves.
Every
night, a brave scout would stand in the tower and watch the dark
forest, ready to ring the bell should he spot a wolf. But one
evening, the brave scout went into the forest to collect firewood and did not return. So
the villagers sent his son and apprentice, a boy named Alistair, up to the tower to
look out for wolves.
Deep
in the dark forest, where no human would venture, the wolves
gathered for a meeting. They congratulated each other on capturing
the scout who had for a long time prevented them from feasting on
flesh, and discussed the next stage of their plan. With the brave scout missing, the wolves knew that a new, untested watchman would be
placed in the tower. All the wolves had to do was ensure that the
people did not trust the new scout, then the village would be
theirs for the taking.
On
Alistair's first night in the tower, he gripped the bellrope tight
in his hand, for he was very nervous. The whole village was relying
on him to keep them safe, and he took that very seriously. Alistair
had to squint hard to see in the night, as the moon was covered by
clouds, but his eyes bulged when the silhouette of a dog came into
plain sight. He yanked the bellrope up and down and sent loud chimes all through the village.
Alistair
looked down at the cottages and saw the men barge out of their
homes, weapons in hand. But when he looked back at the forest, the
wolf was nowhere to be seen. The men shook their fists and shouted
curses at Alistair. They told him not to trouble them again, then
went back to sleep.
The
next night, Alistair climbed to the top of the tower with his
shoulders slumped. He was greatly disheartened that he had made a
mistake and woken all the villagers, Alistair decided he must have imagined
that the wolf was there. He held the bellrope again, but not as
tight as the previous night. At midnight, Alistair saw three shadows emerging from the forest. He opened and closed his eyes to
check that he wasn't imagining the wolves, then yanked on the
bellrope and sent loud chimes all through the village.
The
men once again barged out of their homes, weapons ready to strike.
But the wolves had disappeared and no matter how much Alistair
squinted, he could not see them. The men shook their fists and
shouted curses at Alistair. They told him he would be punished if he troubled them again, then went back to sleep.
The
next evening, just before he was due to climb up the tower, Alistair
took some bloody meat from the village stores. As embarrassed as
he was to have been shouted at by the men, he knew that he
had
seen
wolves and had not
imagined
them. He placed the meat just outside the dark forest, hoping that if
the wolves came, they would snatch it and leave a trail of blood.
That
night, Alistair waited anxiously at the top of the tower, bellrope
in hand. The clouds in the sky had grown bigger than those of the previous
night and thunder rumbled in the sky. Alistair squinted, but the
clouds blocked out all light so that he could only see when lightning
struck. All at once, rain started pouring onto the village, lightning lit up the night, and Alistair saw a whole pack
of wolves running towards the cottages! He jumped up and down, yanking the bell with much vigour.
Only
a handful of village men came outside with their weapons held high. Once
again, the wolves were nowhere in sight. The men, now soaked to
their skin by the downpour of rain, began shaking their fists and shouting curses at
Alistair. But he ran down the tower steps and met them, explaining
about the meat he had placed outside the forest. Alas, when they
got there the meat was gone and the rain had washed away any trail
which the blood may have left.
The
villagers were enraged by the many times Alistair had woken them in the night, so they took him to a large iron cage and
locked him inside it. The morning came, then the afternoon, and
Alistair was still shut away when the sun set. He waited for
someone to let him out so he could keep watch in the tower, but the
sky turned pitch black and nobody came.
At
midnight, Alistair was still wide awake. He squinted hard to see his
surroundings through the cage bars. His heart started pounding when
he heard one devilish growl from behind him. Alistair turned
around and screamed when he saw ten wolves staring at him. He saw their
sharp teeth as they opened their jaws and grinned from ear to ear.
Alistair
raised his hand to grab the bellrope, so he could alert the
villagers. However he wasn't in the tower, he was locked safely away
in a cage where even the wolves could not touch him. Alistair shouted
words of warning, but no one could hear him over the growls and howls
of the vicious creatures. He clasped his hands firmly to his ears,
trying to drown out the screams of his people as the wolves feasted
on their flesh.
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