The shepherd boy sat on a hillside watching the sheep from his village grazing in the grassy meadow below. As he sat under the warm sun, a gentle breeze blowing through his hair, he found himself growing bored and restless. The sheep slowly wandered around, munching on grass and wildflowers, bleating softly to one another.

Looking to entertain himself, the mischievous boy had an idea. Taking a great breath, he shouted, "Giantess! Giantess! The giantess is chasing and eating the sheep!"

The shepherd boy's loud cries about a giantess attacking the sheep rang out through the quiet countryside. Hearing his alarmed shouts, the villagers from the nearby village came rushing up the hill, ready to help drive away the monstrous giantess.

They grabbed pitchforks and shovels, imagining they'd need to defend the boy and their flocks from the invading giantess. Huffing and puffing, they climbed the hill as fast as they could, worried the giantess would gobble up the sheep before they arrived.

But when the villagers reached the top of the hill, out of breath from their climb, they did not find any giantess at all. The sheep grazed calmly and quietly in the grassy meadow below. There was no sign of any attack or monstrous threat. Realizing they had been tricked, the villagers' faces filled with anger.

The shepherd boy laughed gleefully at the sight of them, amused by his successful prank. He had fooled the villagers into thinking a giantess was attacking just by shouting false alarms. Their worried rush to help now seemed very funny to the mischievous, bored boy.

The angry villagers scolded the shepherd boy for tricking them and wasting their time with a false alarm. "Don't cry 'giantess', shepherd boy, when there's no giantess!" they said, wagging their fingers at him.

They were upset that he had misused their trust and goodwill for such a foolish prank. The boy had shouted as though he was in grave danger, so the townspeople had rushed to his aid, ready to defend the sheep and drive off the imaginary monster.

But it was all a joke at their expense. After giving the unrepentant boy a stern warning, the frustrated villagers went grumbling back down the hill, annoyed that they had been duped by his lies. The shepherd boy watched them leave with a grin, amused at pulling off his hoax and the reaction he had caused.

Later that same day, the mischievous shepherd boy decided to play his trick again. Though the villagers had scolded him and stormed off angrily, the bored boy found their irritation amusing. Once again he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Giantess! Giantess! The giantess is chasing and swallowing the sheep!"

His false cries of alarm rang out loudly across the countryside. The exasperated villagers heard the boy's shouts from their town below. Though they were frustrated at being fooled once already, they couldn't ignore his calls for help. Gripping their tools tightly, they rushed up the hill again to drive away the imaginary giantess.To the shepherd boy's naughty delight, he watched the villagers running to his aid for a second time, huffing and puffing as they climbed. He grinned as their frustrated faces came into view. The boy had succeeded again in mischievously tricking the townspeople with his fabricated story, enjoying their gullibility and the game of causing a stir. 

When the exasperated villagers reached the top of the hill again, out of breath from rushing to the rescue, they were annoyed to find the meadow quiet and peaceful once more. There was no monstrous giantess nor any signs of an attack on the sheep.

Sternly, they said to the mischievous boy, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'giantess' when there is NO giantess!" They were fed up with his antics and lies, having been tricked twice now into climbing the hill for nothing.But the shepherd boy just grinned as he watched the villagers vent their anger. He found their frustration at his prank funny. The boy was completely unrepentant, amused that he had fooled them again.

After giving him another sharp warning, the villagers went grumbling back down the hill once more, their faces red with exertion and anger. The naughty shepherd boy had gotten exactly the rise out of them that he wanted, enjoying their reactions to his false alarms even though they scolded him. 

Later that same day, as the shepherd boy was watching his flock, he suddenly saw a real giantess emerge from the forest nearby. She was an enormous grey beast, as tall as a tree, with a long nose and wild, matted hair.

The ground shook as she stomped towards the meadow. Alarmed at the sight of the actual dangerous giantess approaching, the shepherd boy leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Giantess! Giantess!"

The giantess stared hungrily at the sheep as she loomed over them, licking her lips. With thundering steps, she began snatching up the panicked sheep in her huge fists, greedily swallowing them whole.

The frightened flock bleated and scattered, but could not escape her giant grasping hands and gaping mouth. She stuffed sheep after sheep into her open maw, biting off their heads and chewing noisily.

The monster was voracious and showed no signs of stopping as she consumed more and more of the sheep.The shepherd boy shouted and waved his staff, desperately trying to scare the giantess away. But she ignored him, intent only on devouring the delicious sheep.

The boy cried and cried for help, but with no villagers coming to his aid this time, he could only watch in horror as the gluttonous giantess swallowed his flock whole. 


But when the shepherd boy cried out for help this time, the frustrated villagers thought he was still trying to fool them with another false alarm. They scoffed and ignored his desperate shouts, not coming to his aid.At sunset, the villagers wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their flock as usual.

Concerned something may have happened, they marched back up the hill again to find him. When they reached the meadow, they found the shepherd boy sitting alone and weeping."There really was a giantess here!" he sobbed. "While you didn't believe me, she came and scattered the flock! I cried out, 'Giantess! Giantess!' as loud as I could, but why didn't you come?"

The villagers looked around the meadow in dismay. They realized that the boy had been telling the truth this time. The flock was gone, devoured by the actual monster.

If only they had heeded his cries for help instead of assuming he was lying again, they could have driven the giantess away and saved their sheep. The boy wept at the loss of his flock while the ashamed villagers bowed their heads, lamenting that they hadn't come when he truly needed them.

As the crestfallen villagers turned to head back home, an old, wise man stepped forward to comfort the weeping shepherd boy. He put a sympathetic arm around the boy's shoulders and walked with him."Don't despair," the old man said gently. "Tomorrow morning, we will all come help you look for any sheep that might have escaped and bring back any we can find. Nobody believes a liar, even when he is telling the truth! It is a good lesson to learn."