Page:The shoemaker's apron (1920).djvu/267

 “But I tell you I won’t dare him to another wrestling match,” the young devil said, “nor to a foot race, either.”

“Try whistling this time,” his comrades told him. “You ought to be able to beat him whistling. Now have your wits about you and don’t let him fool you again.”

So the devil went back to earth and said to the farmer:

“We’ve got to have another contest for that bag of money. This time let’s try whistling.”

“Very well,” the farmer said. “We’ll have a whistling match.”

They went off into the forest and the farmer told the devil to whistle first.

The devil whistled and all the leaves on the trees shook and trembled. He whistled again and the twigs began to crackle and break. He whistled a third time and big branches snapped off and fell to the ground.

“There!” the devil exclaimed, “Can you beat that?”

“My poor boy,” the farmer said. (Oh, but that farmer was a tricky one!) “Is that the best you can do? Why, when I whistle, if you don’t cover up your ears you’ll be deafened! And as likely as not