a tree will fall on you and kill you! Now shall I begin?”
“Wait a minute!” the devil begged. “Won’t you please tie up my ears before you begin because I don’t want to be deafened.”
This was just what the farmer was hoping the devil would say. So he took out a big kerchief and put it over the devil’s ears and also over his eyes and tied it behind in a hard knot.
“Now then!” he shouted. “Take care!”
With that he began to whistle and as he whistled he picked up a big branch off the ground and gave the devil an awful crack over the head.
“My head! My head!” the devil cried.
“My poor fellow!” the farmer said, pretending to be very sympathetic. “I hope that tree as it fell down didn’t hurt you! Now I’m going to whistle again and you must be more careful.”
This time when he whistled the farmer struck the devil over the head harder than before.
“That’s enough!” the devil shouted. “Another tree has fallen on me! Stop! Stop!”
“No,” the farmer insisted. “You whistled three times and I’m going to whistle three times. Are you ready?”
