97 The Hat Maker and the Monkeys

Once upon a time there was a man who made hats. He was a hat maker. He had enough hats to sell. One day he put the hats into his barrow and went along the road to the market. It was a long way and the hat maker was tired and hot. He came to a tree and sat down. Soon he fell asleep. There were monkeys up in the tree. The hat maker did not know this. The monkeys looked down. They saw the hats. Then they came down and took them. Each monkey put a hat on and each monkey went up the tree again.

Then the man woke up. His barrow was empty. There were no hats in it. "Where are my hats?"he said. He looked left. He looked right. He looked round about. Then he looked up. He saw the monkeys with his hats on. "Oh dear!"he said. "Those naughty monkeys have stolen my hats."He shook his fist at them. The monkeys shook their fists too. The hat maker had an idea. He took off his hat and threw it on the ground. The monkeys took off their hats too and threw them on the ground. The hat maker put his hats back in his barrow and quickly left for the market.

barrow 手推車 fall asleep 入睡

naughty 頑皮的, 淘氣的

帽匠和猴子

從前，有個人會做帽子。他是個帽匠。他有很多帽子要賣。一天，他把帽子放進手推車里，沿路去市場。路很遠，帽匠走得又熱又累。他來到一棵樹下坐了下來，很快就睡著了。樹上有猴子，帽匠對此并不知情。猴子們向下一望，看到了很多帽子。它們從樹上下來拿走了帽子。每只猴子都戴上一頂帽子，然后又都爬到了樹上。

過了一陣，帽匠醒了。他的手推車空空如也，里面沒有一頂帽子。“我的帽子哪兒去了？”他說。他找找左邊，看看右邊，四下里尋找。后來他抬頭一看，看到了戴著他的帽子的猴子。“噢，天哪！”他想，“這些淘氣的猴子偷了我的帽子。”他沖它們揮揮拳頭，猴子也揮揮它們的拳頭。帽匠有了個主意。他脫下自己戴的帽子，扔到地上。猴子們也脫下它們的帽子扔到地上。帽匠把他的帽子撿起來放到手推車里，急忙離開這里趕往市場。