So the elder brother set out and soon was out of sight, and the younger one sat on the box and kicked his heels and waited, and waited and waited and waited; but his brother never did come back.
Then the lad knew the older one had made a fool of him. He looked in the box and found it empty. So off he set to see whether he could make his own way in the world and no thanks to any one.
He journeyed on a short way and a long way, and so he came to a place where three men were quarreling together fiercely, and the things they were quarreling over were an old turban, a piece of carpet, and a sword.
As soon as they saw the lad they stopped quarreling and ran and caught hold of him. “You shall decide! You shall decide!” they shouted all together.
“What is it you wish me to decide?” asked the lad.
Then the men told him they were three brothers, and that when their father died he had left them these three things,—the turban, the carpet, and the sword. Whoever placed the turban on his head would at once become invisible. Whoever sat on the carpet had only to wish himself wherever he would be, and the carpet would carry him there in a twinkling, and the sword would cut through anything, and no magic could stand against it.
“These things should belong to me, because I am the eldest,” cried one of the men.
“No, I should have them because I am the strongest and stoutest,” said the second.
“But I am the youngest and weakest and need them most,” cried the third. They then began to quarrel again and even came to blows.
“Stop, stop,” cried the lad. “You said that I should decide this matter for you, so why quarrel about it? But before I decide I must try the things and see whether what you have told me is really so.”