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The Boy Who Cried Wolf

from Only Human by Sam Steffen

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Genesis 4:1-16

lyrics

Once pon a time in a faraway place there lived two young boys with their father
One was in charge of keeping the sheep, in charge of everything else was his brother
The shepherd was told to keep his eyes peeled, to look out for wolves with their cunning
Was told if he saw anything that looked strange, to yell, and the villiage’d come running
For a while he did just like he was told, but he found the watch rather boring
So one quiet night he raised the alarm while the entire villiage was snoring:

Wolf! There’s a wolf! O, somebody help!
Somebody please, I ain’t lyin
Get up from your beds, you been sleepin too long
Cant anyone hear me cryin?

So up from their beds the villiagers arose, hoping to prevent some disaster
But when they got to the boy with their pitchforks and blades, they found he was dyin of laughter
“You idiot boy,” his father exclaimed, “Didn’t I raise you to know better?”
Than to behave just like a fool? Why can’t you be more like your brother?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, “won’t happen again,” and on he went pologizing
But the very next night when the town was asleep, a cry from the fields it came rising

Chorus

So up from their beds the villagers arose, hoping to prevent some disaster
And when they got to the boy with their pitchforks and blades, they found him there dyin of laughter
“Fooled us again, shame on us,” they said, “We really ought to have known better,”
And they all went away shaking their heads, wishing the boy was more like his brother
The very next night, a wolf, it appeared; the boy saw it but he raised no holler
He managed to chase it away from his flock into the house of his brother

Chorus

But no one got up tho the screams they all heard, thought, “it’s only that boy who’s been
lyin,”
and everyone slept with wax in their ears while the innocent one went on dyin
next morning the father asked his son, “Son, tell me, where is your brother?”
the boy replied, “How am I sposed to know? Am I my brother’s keeper?”

credits

from Only Human, released March 7, 2019

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Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho

Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more

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