The physician

A physician walked into an antique store, and began to look around. Suddenly,
he spied a large BRASS RAT in the corner. He fell in love with it, and so he
brought it up to the cashier.
"The rat, eh?" said the wizened old cashier.
"That's right, how much," replied the doctor.
"Well, five dollars for the rat--but 200 dollars for the story," he answered
with a grin.
"I'll just take the rat, without the story," laughed the physician.
He left the store, his precious brass rat tucked under his arm.
Soon he began to hear a scurrying and squeaking noise behind him. When he
looked back, he noticed that a few rats were following him. After he had walked
a few more blocks, the number of rats behind him increased. This continued,
until there were virtually millions of rats behind him.
The physician panicked, ran to a pier overlooking the sea, and threw the rat
in. All of the rats plunged in after it, and met their watery deaths.
The physician ran back to the antique store. The old cashier was chuckling to
himself. "So now do you want the story?"
"No," said the doctor, "but have you got any brass lawyers?