Late one night, an old fortuneteller was returning home from the local market place. Since it was getting dark rather quickly, the fortuneteller wanted to get home quicker and took a shortcut through the woods, where she ran into a rather hungry wolf. As the wolf prepared to devour her, she cried out, “Oh wolf! Spare me and I will tell you your future!”

And so, the wolf agreed, and the fortuneteller held the wolf’s ear and told the wolf, “You will become a shepard.” The wolf  sat down and started crying, much to the surprise of the fortuneteller.

“Why are you crying,” asked the fortuneteller.

“I’m afraid you might be lying,” said the wolf. Essentially, this little folktale is a small little anecdote about the dangers of being dishonest while also playing upon dramatic irony in the situation by having the wolf (the supposed antagonist of the piece) appear to be distraught when he believes that the fortune teller is lying to him and it is all a sham. In many ways, this can be seen as a Middle Eastern alternative spin on the classic western folk tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf.