e belonging to a neighbour, eating
the ripe fruit, when he saw the three young farmers coming towards him.
Swinging himself down, he flew home to the hut, crying breathlessly,
'Mother, mother, the farmers are close by with the wolf. They have found
out all about it, and will certainly kill me, and perhaps you too. But
if you do as I tell you, I may be able to save us both. Lie down on
the floor, and pretend to be dead, and be sure not to speak, whatever
happens.

Thus when the three brothers, each armed with a whip, entered the hut a
few seconds later, they found a woman extended on the floor, and Toueno
kneeling at her side, whistling loudly into her ears.

'What are you doing now, you rascal?' asked the eldest.

'What am I doing? Oh, my poor friends, I am the most miserable creature
in the world! I have lost the best of mothers, and I don't know what
will become of me,' and he hid his face in his hands and sobbed again.

'But what are you whistling like that for?'

'Well, it is the only chance. This whistle has been known to bring the
dead back to life, and I hoped--' here he buried his face in his hands
again, but peeping between his fingers he saw that the brother had
opened their six eyes as wide as saucers.

'Look!' he suddenly exclaimed with a cry, 'Look! I am sure I felt her
body move! And now her nostrils are twitching. Ah! the whistle has
not lost its power after all,' and stooping down, Toueno whistled more
loudly than before, so that the old woman's feet and hands showed signs
of life, and she soon was able to life her head.

The farmers were so astonished at her restoration, that it was some
time before they could speak. At length the eldest turned to the boy and
said:

'Now listen to me. There is no manner of doubt that you are a young
villain. You sold us a ram knowing full well that it was a wolf, and
we came here to-day to pay you out for it. But if you will give us that
whistle, we will pardon what you have done, and will leave you alone.'

'It is my only treasure, and I set great store by it,' answered the boy,
pretending to hesitate. 'But as you wish for it so much, well, I suppose
I can't refuse,' and he held out the whistle, which the eldest brother
put in his pocket.

Armed with the precious whistle, the three brothers returned home full
of joy, and as they went the youngest said to the others, 'I have such
a good idea! Our wives are all lazy and grumbling, and make our lives a
burden.