The Lookout : A retelling of the boy who cried wolf for modern times

As I have long hoped, my brilliant friends have decided to contribute to the blog and I urge them to do so more! Inspired by the same topic of conversation from Copenhagen Hold Em poker night, below is a story written by Ben Pearson that I found to be pretty effing awesome. Enjoy!


The Lookout : A retelling of the boy who cried wolf for modern times
by Ben Pearson


There once was a small village living down in a valley lined by a mountain range on all sides. All along this range there were outposts, and at each outpost a member of the village was assigned to, among other things, keep a lookout for wolves. No wolf had ever entered into the valley before, but the villagers knew that if one did, it might eat most of the villagers very quickly. Some debated how many villagers a wolf could actually eat, but nevertheless all agreed it was a grave threat.

On one day many years ago, one of the outposts rang their alarm bell, sure that he saw a wolf descending into the valley. Another outpost nearby saw the same thing, and began to ring his bell too. Soon a third and fourth, fifth, six and seventh outpost were all looking in the direction of the supposed wolf. These later outposts however had a better view, and one of them happened to be an expert on very large deer that sometimes visited the valley. "Its just a large deer," he declared, and soon the others saw it too and all the bells stopped ringing.

A few years later a similar incident occurred - of the hundreds of outposts lining the valley- only a few rang their bells before others spotted the false alarm, reported their findings and the bells died down.

Then one evening a few bells began to ring once again. The other outposts went to their lookouts expecting to see a large deer, but low and behold it definitely wasn't a deer! Very slowly a large wolf-like shape was descending into the valley. None could see the wolf completely, as the sun was setting, but each could see enough to ring their bell. One outpost saw a long bushy tail, another could see clearly some very large wolf-like ears. One by one more and more outposts began to ring their bells until 13 of the 16 outposts were ringing their alarm bell. Incidentally, two of the three remaining outposts did not ring their bell because they could not see anything, and the third refrained because although he saw it clearly, he was not convinced that wolfs posed any real danger at all.

Down in the village Bob the hog farmer was very distraught. Plans had been made for this occasion to set loose most of his hogs onto various paths leading out of the valley. The idea was that this would lead the wolf out of the valley as it chased the hogs. At each path hunters were camped, so that they could easily shoot and kill the wolf insuring that it did not return.

Suffice it say, Bob was not happy. He had worked his whole life to raise pigs and his herd of them was only so large because of his great sacrifice and ingenuity over the years. Hogs was all he knew, and to release so many was like to loose a part of himself. A few of the villagers too were unhappy, because they enjoyed eating bacon more than anything else, and were sure that the price of it would go up after this evening.

As villagers began to surround Bob's farm, Bob stood firmly at his gate.

"Remember a few years ago, when we thought it was a wolf but it was a deer? How do we know that its really a wolf?" Bob asked of the approaching villagers.

"Almost all the bells are ringing this time Bob," one villager answered. "Last time only a few rang before the others quieted them down," said another.

"I already donated 2 hogs last winter to be delivered to another valley and keep the wolfs there," Bob reminded the villagers. "So surely I take this threat as seriously if not more than any of you. I'm just not convinced that a wolf is approaching," he continued.

The villagers were unimpressed. "You must release your hogs!" one shouted impatiently.

"If I release my hogs, many in the village will be hungry this winter," Bob said in return. "You think you want me to release them now, but you will likely regret it this winter, especially if there is no wolf!"

There was a moment of silence at this, as some of the larger villagers rubbed their bellies and considered a winter with no hogs. Finally a cousin of one of the lookouts spoke, "There is a wolf. They have seen its bushy tail and it long wolf ears and two of its hind legs. You must release the hogs now!"

One of the larger villagers replied, "A tail and ears? Is that all? Surely we should not go hungry until we see the entire wolf."

Another large villager added, "Look at us, we are acting crazy. In the past we have thought there were wolves but they were only deer. Because of our fear, we are not thinking this through carefully."

The alarms along the mountain range continued to ring, and the wolf entered the village and quickly ate an old woman who was hard of hearing and had not heard the warnings.

"See there, it is a wolf for sure, now release the Hogs," cried the villagers.

Bob, convinced now that it was a wolf, turned toward his the pen to release his hogs. Just then one of the largest villagers grabbed Bob's arm.
"Bob, think of what your doing, we all may go hungry this winter," he said. "Anyhow there is no proof that releasing the hogs will work as planned."

Bob nodded but looked confused.

"We have already seen for sure that the wolf likes to eat old women," the villager continued, "and many of our old women are soon to die anyhow. Perhaps we should send our old women to the path leading in and out of the valley."

A few of the villagers agreed, but others did not and began to shout protests. In turn the ones who agreed began to shout even louder. By now the alarm bells along the mountain range were ringing so loudly, and so many villagers were shouting, that it became hard to hear exactly what anyone was saying at all. In the midst of all of this shouting and confusion, the wolf arrived at the villagers and ate them all very quickly.