There was once an old man who was very ill. He called his three sons to his bedside.
“I am old,” he said, “and about to die. You have been good children and all that I have I leave to you. I have no money. The worth of what I give depends on your making the right use of it.”
Then he gave to the oldest son a chicken, to the second a scythe, and to the third a cat.
“Take these,” he said. “If you can find countries where these things are not known, they will be worth much to you.”

Soon after this, the father died. Then the oldest son took his chicken under his arm and started out. On the farms which he passed, chickens were very common. In the villages, too, he heard them crowing. He came at last to a great city. Here chickens were for sale in all the markets. No one thought his chicken was wonderful at all.
At last, he sailed across the sea, hoping to find a land where cocks were not known. He sailed on and on, till he came to an island. There the people had no chickens, and they had no clocks nor watches to tell the time. The light told them when it was day and the darkness when it was night. But when they did not sleep at night they had no way of knowing the hour.

“See!” said the oldest son. “What a fine bird this is! It has a red crown on its head and there are spurs on its feet. It calls out three times in the night to tell the hour. The first time is near midnight. The second time is between midnight and day. The last is just before day. If it calls out in the day, it tells us there may be a change in the weather.”
That night the people stayed awake to hear the wonderful bird. It crowed loudly three times, just as the son of fortune had said it would. The people were delighted and asked for how much gold he would sell it.
“As much as a donkey can carry,” he said.
“That is not too much for such a useful bird,” they said. So they brought a donkey and loaded it with gold. With this, the first son of fortune went back home.

Then, the second brother said, “I will go and try to sell this scythe of mine.”
So he sharpened it well. Then he put it across his shoulder and started off. For a long time he found no sale for his blade. The farmers and workmen whom he met had scythes as good as his.

At last, he reached an island where the people had never heard of a scythe. When they wanted to reap their grain, they used giant, magic iron balls. They would enchant the heavy balls to bounce and roll wildly through the wheat fields to knock the grain down. Much of the grain was crushed into the mud, and the heavy thumping of the magic balls made a dreadful noise that shook the houses. The second son of fortune said,
“Let me show you a better way to gather your harvest.”

He went into a field of ripe wheat. With his scythe, he cut it so quietly and so gracefully that all the people stopped to watch. Instead of the "Thump! Crash! Boom!" of the magic balls, there was only the soft "swish" of his blade.
“That is the most wonderful tool!” they said. “Will you sell it?”
“Yes, if you will give me as much gold as a horse can carry,” said the second son of fortune. This they were quite willing to do. They brought it to him at once and he went back home.

Now the youngest brother made up his mind to try his luck with his cat.
“It is all in taking the right thing to the right place,” he said to himself.
So he put his cat in a bag and started out as the others had done. He went to farms and villages and towns. But in all he found cats enough and to spare.

At last, he got on a ship and sailed and sailed across the sea. He came to an island where no one had ever seen a cat. Rats and mice were everywhere.
They ran under foot, they climbed on the chairs and tables. They even took food from the plates when people were eating. In the palace of the king, it was no better than in the hut of the poor. No one, whether high or low, had any peace of his life.

Then the son of fortune went before the king and opened his bag. Out sprang the cat and caught rat after rat, mouse after mouse.
“Good, good!” said the king. “This wonderful beast would soon free us from rats and mice. Will you sell it?”
“Yes,” said the third son of fortune. “If you will give me as much gold as a mule can carry.”
“That I will,“ said the king. The son of fortune took the gold and went down to the ship to set sail for home.

Meanwhile the cat made herself at home in the palace. The servants were kept busy counting the rats and mice that she killed. At last, such hard work made her thirsty. She went to the servants crying, “Meow, meow!”
They were frightened at this strange cry. The king and servants and all ran away. Then they held a meeting to decide what to do.
“We will ask her to leave the palace,” said the king. “If she does not go, we will send an army to drive her away. It’s bad to be vexed by rats and mice. But it is worse to have here this fearful beast that cries ‘Meow, meow.’”

A man was sent to ask the cat to leave the palace. Poor puss was now thirstier than ever. So she ran to him , saying “Meow, meow,” as loud as she could.
Away ran the man so fast that his coat tails stood out straight behind.
“The fearful beast will not leave the palace,” he cried. “When I asked her to go, she was very angry. She cried ‘Meow, meow’ and chased me. I feared I should not get away with my life.”

The people had never heard a cat before, and to them, the "Meow" sounded like a strange, magical warning. Fearing the "fearful beast," they prepared to defend their palace. However, just as they were about to roll their giant magic iron balls towards her, the youngest brother returned to the palace.
He saw his cat was just thirsty and lonely. He picked her up, gave her a bowl of milk, and she began to purr. The king and the villagers watched in awe as the "beast" turned into a gentle friend. The king realised that they didn't need magic iron balls for everything; they just needed to understand. The brother decided to leave the cat’s kittens with the king so they could help the kingdom, and he sailed home, knowing he had brought peace and a new friendship to the island.