The Wolf is Coming!

My name is Heiwei, and I am a wolf. I’ve just earned the right to hunt on my own. The old wolf king warned us never to cross that hill, as it leads to a human village. He said that for three generations, we’ve lived without disturbing each other—as long as we don’t hunt their livestock, they won’t come after us.
But this winter is bitterly cold, and hunger has overpowered the old wolf king’s words.
I began lingering near the edge of the hill, where I noticed a little boy herding sheep alone. He was strange. One day, he suddenly shouted toward the distant village, “The wolf is coming！” Startled, I dropped to the ground, shut my eyes tight, and prayed the humans wouldn’t see me. But the frantic footsteps I expected never came. Instead, the smell of torches and guns drifted from afar. Cautiously, I opened my eyes and saw a group of panting, panicked adults—while the boy laughed hysterically. When asked where the wolf was, he just giggled and admitted it was a lie. Cursing, the adults trudged back to the village. Slowly, I stood up, puzzled—why deceive your own kind?
The next day, the same scene repeated. This time, their anger was fiercer—someone even threatened to tell the boy’s parents. From the hill, I watched it all. My stomach twisted with hunger, yet I couldn’t act. Those plump sheep were right there, but the villagers’ tools could easily end my life.
On the third day, when the sun reached its peak, the boy stood and screamed again, “The wolf is coming！” This time, only two or three villagers lazily stepped out, glancing around—clearly, they no longer believed him.
Hunger burned through my mind like fire.
I crossed that hill.
As I charged through the bushes below, the sheep flock tensed. The boy turned pale and shrieked, “The wolf is coming！” But no one in the village trusted him anymore. I snatched a lamb, locked eyes with the boy for a long moment, then dashed back over the hill.
A lie is like this cruel winter—in the end, it freezes the liar hardest.