Moral Connection

At the end of "Harvest" in Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote these words:

"But she didn't understand why Pa had called him a little liar. She didn't understand how Charley could be a liar, when he had not said a word."

For those unfamiliar with the story, the Ingalls family had been to Uncle Henry and Aunt Polly's house so Pa could help Uncle Henry cut and shock the oats. Cousin Peter is told to help the men in the afternoon, but he fooled them three times by yelling as if something was terribly wrong. The fourth time he yelled, the men did not run to him. His yelling continued because he had actually jumped on a yellow jacket nest and was being stung repeatedly!

The second graders were quick to comment on Charley's status as a liar. Then one child said, "It is just like The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Others agreed. "And you know that moral, right?" the child asked. Not all kids could recite it. "You can't believe a liar, even when he is telling the truth," he told everyone. Nods all around.