![]() ![]() The phrase, ‘’the wolf at the door’’ was a symbol of the fear of hunger and starvation, which was widespread during the Great Depression in America and Europe. Wolves have a history of being portrayed as evil in children’s stories such as the hungry wolf in The Three Little Pigs. Some cultures believe wolves are guides to the dead and linked to Hades, God of the underworld. Wolves are believed to be closely linked to the sun, moon, light, and spirit. The wolf was often negatively associated with darkness, aggression, and Chthonic powers, and positively because of their intelligence, excellent hunting skills, protecting their young, pack loyalty, and a well-defined social structure. The symbols and their meanings have changed over the centuries, depending on the development of humans. Humans are likely to have associated wolves with symbolism since the early days of interaction between them. 3 Motivation and Tips to Make Wolf Drawing Easy.2.10 Step 10: Adding Shading and Details.2.6 Step 6: Shaping the Facial Features.2.3 Step 3: Additional Construction Lines.2.2 Step 2: Adding the First Construction Lines.2.1 Step 1: Sketching the Shape of the Head. ![]() 2 How to Draw a Wolf: Step-by-Step Instructions.1 The Meaning and Symbolism of the Wolf.One commentator claimed that Aesop fought at the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE, but since by then he had been dead for nearly a century one can’t imagine he was much help. Nevertheless, legends grew up around the storyteller. Aesop’s Fables may have been the work of many hands, part of an oral tradition that gradually accumulated. If he did, it was probably in around the sixth century BCE, several centuries after Homer, if Homer himself ever existed. William Caxton printed the first English translation of the Fables in 1484, enabling such phrases as ‘sour grapes’ and ‘to cry wolf’ to enter the language.Īs with Homer, we can’t be sure an ‘Aesop’ ever actually existed. Several centuries earlier, Hesiod – who is now best-known for his two poems, Theogony and Works and Days (a fascinating poem which we have analysed here) – had written one about a hawk and a nightingale, while a poet named Archilochus penned several, including one about an eagle and a vixen, and one about a fox and a monkey.īut Aesop would turn the fable into a popular form. Teachers and parents need to teach children that honesty is valued.Īesop wasn’t the first person to write animal fables. It is not enough to teach children that lying is wrong, and this is where the limitations of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ show themselves. In other words, the study suggests that what children require is not a reminder of the threat of punishment for telling lies, but affirmation that telling the truth carries the promise of reward. For small children, the main worry with telling a lie is not losing people’s trust (although of course this is a factor in Aesop’s story) but in getting punished for your lies.īut the story of George Washington and the cherry tree is more effective in encouraging honest behaviour among children because the young George receives positive praise and respect for telling the truth. So the moral weight of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ carries no shock value and imparts no new warning to them. Why is this?Īfter all, the boy in Aesop’s fable suffers a terrible punishment: in the most extreme versions of the story he is eaten by the wolf himself, so his lies cost him his life, but even in the more mainstream version cited above, he still ends up in serious trouble with his master, because his actions lead to the wolf getting away with attacking the flock.īut as Bronson and Merriman observe, the fact that liars get punished when their lies are found out is not news to children. Indeed, ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ even encouraged lying in its respondents. The researcher who carried out the experiment even anonymised the central figure, in case the reputation of George Washington was a contributing factor, but even when the boy was made just an ordinary child rather than the future President of the United States, the story was still more effective in discouraging lying in children. The George Washington story, according to this study, reduced lying by 75% in boys and 50% in girls. They cite a study which showed that the famous story of George Washington telling the truth to his father (over chopping down the family’s cherry tree) – a story which is as grounded in reality as ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ likely ever was – was considerably more effective in convincing children that it was a bad idea to lie. ![]()
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