Page:Turkish fairy tales and folk tales (1901).djvu/126

 quarrelling with one another about something. He soon made a fourth, and asked them what they were tussling about.

"We are the children of one father," said the youngest of them, "and our father has just died and left us, by way of inheritance, a turban, a whip, and a carpet. Whoever puts the turban on his head is hidden from mortal eyes. Whoever extends himself on the carpet and strikes it once with the whip can fly far away, after the manner of birds; and we are eternally quarrelling among ourselves as to whose shall be the turban, whose the whip, and whose the carpet."

"All three of them must belong to one of us," cried they all. "They are mine, because I am the biggest," said one.—"They are mine by right, because I am the middling-sized brother," cried the second.—"They are mine, because I am the smallest," cried the third. From words they speedily came to blows, so that it was as much as the youth could do to keep them apart.

"You can't settle it like that," said he; "I'll tell you what we'll do. I'll make an arrow from this little piece of wood, and shoot it off. You run after it, and he who brings it to me here soonest shall have all three things." Away flew the dart, and after it pelted the three brothers, helter-skelter; but the