A tourist wandering through the back alleys of San Francisco’s Chinatown finds his way into an antique store. A bronze statue of a rat catches his eye, and he asks for its price.
“The rat costs twelve dollars,” the shopkeeper says, “and it will be a thousand dollars more for the story behind it.”
The tourist, being a shrewd American, pays for the rat, telling the old man he can keep his costly story.
Walking away from the shop, the tourist sees rats emerge from the sewer drain and begin to follow him. As he strides faster, a mass of rats swarm behind him. Running for the harbor pursued by thousands of rodents, the terrified tourist climbs a lamppost and hurls the statue into the Bay. The rat horde follows its idol into the water, and drowns.
The tourist runs back to the antique shop, and confronts the smiling shopkeeper. “So now you’ve seen what the statue can do, and you’ve come back to find out the story?” asks the Chinese man.
“No, no, no,” says the tourist. “Now I want to buy a bronze statue of a lawyer!”
