Aesop In The Ozarks

The fables of Aesop have been told and retold for millennia. "The Ant and the Grasshopper", "The Tortoise and the Hare", "The Lion and the Mouse" are some that you should remember from your childhood. These fables, aside from their sheer pleasure in hearing or reading, usually had a moral lesson or point of instruction.

My Grandpa, Elmer Riggs, was the general contractor when the West Main Plaza was built. This was in the mid to late 60's and he had a crew of about ten men that were working for him. My Dad, Leamon Riggs, was part of the crew and was my Grandpa's right-hand-man.

My Dad and another feller, (I've forgotten his name) were hanging supports for drop ceilings in the large various offices in the Plaza. They were on a rolling scaffold and during the course of the day, the scaffold needed to be moved to a new work area. So, instead of climbing down, moving the scaffold and then climbing back up to work; they would just get the attention of a couple of men to come and move it while they just "rode".

Toward the end of a particularly long day, my Dad and his scaffold mate found themselves at the very back of a large office area. They got the attention of a couple of men and told them they needed to be moved all the way to the front of the office by the door. Now, the path to the door was blocked by all kinds of equipment, materials and scrap. The two men worked moving stuff, pushing the scaffold a little way, moving more stuff, moving the scaffold... In the meantime, Dad and his partner in crime, laid back on the scaffold platform and just rode and rested.

When the "movers" finally reached the area near the door, they stopped and asked if they were close to the next work area. Dad assured them that it was OK. Then he and his scaffold mate collected their tools, climbed down from the scaffold, thanked the two "movers" and walked out the door to go home!

As you might expect, Dad and his partner thought this was a pretty good joke but the "movers" didn't really make a big deal of it. However, it so happened that sometime during the next few days, they needed their scaffold moved (no fooling!) When they called for someone to help, it just happened to be one of the "movers" that was closest and got the call for "help".

As related by my Dad...the feller came over and looked up at Dad and his cohort sitting on the scaffold, and said "Let me tell you a little story". Dad said that he proceeded to tell the entire Aesop Fable of "The Little Boy That Cried Wolf." How the little shepherd boy was lonesome out with the sheep so he cried "Wolf! Wolf!" and all the villagers would run from the village and help the little boy but...Alas...there was not a wolf. Just the laughter of the little boy. This was done repeatedly until a real wolf appeared! This time when the little boy cried "Wolf!" all the villagers just ignored him and the wolf attacked the sheep because nobody believed the little boy anymore.

When "Mr. Mover" finished the story (which according to my Dad was quite lengthy) he looked up at the two pranksters peeking over scaffold platform and said "MOVE YOUR OWN $%@$#@* SCAFFOLDING!!!" and walked off!