wealth and importance.

Late that summer an unheard-of-thing happened.

It rained.

The oldest inhabitants could not remember such a thing, but it rained
hard and steadily for two whole days. A little brook, the existence of
which everybody had forgotten, was suddenly turned into a wild torrent.
In the middle of the night it came thundering down from the mountains
and destroyed the harvest of the farmer who occupied the rocky ground at
the foot of the hills. His name was Cup and he too had inherited his
land from a hundred other Cups who had gone before. The damage was
almost irreparable. Cup needed new seed grain and he needed it at once.
He had heard Sparrow's story. He too hated to ask a favor of Fish who
was known far and wide as a shrewd dealer. But in the end, he found his
way to the Fishs' homestead and humbly begged for the loan of a few
bushels of wheat. He got them but not until he had agreed to work two
whole months of each year on the farm of Fish.

Fish was now doing very well. His new house was ready and he thought the
time had come to establish himself as the head of a household.

Just across the way, there lived a farmer who had a young daughter. The
name of this farmer was Knife. He was a happy-go-lucky person and he
could not give his child a large dowry.

Fish called on Knife and told him that he did not care for money. He was
rich and he was willing to take the daughter without a single penny.
Knife, however, must promise to leave his land to his son-in-law in