of the scythe was the first to try his fortune and test his
father's advice. He left his brothers, and went on a journey until
he came to a town where he saw the people harvesting rice by pulling
the stalks out of the ground. He showed the people the convenience of
the scythe. They were so delighted and astonished, that they offered
to give him a large sum of money in exchange for the tool. Of course
he was willing to sell it, and he went home a rich man.

The owner of the rooster, seeing the good luck of his brother,
next resolved to try his fortune with the bird. Like his brother,
he travelled until he came to a town where there was no rooster. The
people were very much interested in the rooster's crowing, and asked
the owner why the bird crowed. He said that the bird told the time of
day by its crowing. "The first crow in the night announces midnight,"
he said; "the second, three o'clock in the morning; and the third
crow announces five o'clock." The people were very anxious to get
the rooster for their town, and offered to buy it. The owner was
willing, and he returned to his home as rich as his brother who had
sold the scythe.

The last brother now set out to try his luck with his cat. At last
he came to a town where the rats were vexing the people very much. He
showed them the use of his cat. With wonder the people watched the cat
kill the rats, and were astounded to see how the rats fled from this
strange animal. The news of the cat reached the king, who summoned
its owner to the palace. The king asked the brother to try his cat on
the rats in the palace, and so the cat was turned loose. In a short
time all the rats had either been killed or driven away. The king
wanted the cat, and offered to pay a large sum of money for it. So
the owner of the cat, after the king had paid him, went home as rich
as his other two brothers.

Thus the three brothers became rich, because they followed their
father's wise advice: select the right place in which to trade.

Notes.

This story, like the preceding, is clearly an importation from the
Occident. The bibliography of the cycle to which it belongs may be
found in Bolte-Polivka, 2 : 69-71 (on Grimm, No. 70). German, Breton,
French, Flemish, Swedish, Catalan, Serbian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish,
Russian, Lithuanian, and Finnish versions have been recorded. The
story as a whole does not appear to have been collected from the Far
East hitherto, though separate tales turning