The Cats who Made their Master Rich
‘Ah! as to cats and mice, listen and I’ll tell you something worth hearing!
‘In America, once upon a time, there were no cats. Mice there were in plenty; mice everywhere; not peeping out of holes now and then, but infesting everything, swarming over every room; and when a family sat down to meals, the mice rushed upon the table and disputed the victuals with them.
‘Then one thought of a plan; he freighted three ships; full, full of cats, and off to America with them. There he sold them for their weight in gold and more, and whiff! the mice were swept away, and he made a great fortune. A great fortune, all out of cats!’
[In the ‘Russian Folktales’ is also a version of the Whittington story, p. 43.]