'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.]