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 手推车 fall asleep 入睡

naughty 顽皮的, 淘气的

帽匠和猴子

从前，有个人会做帽子。他是个帽匠。他有很多帽子要卖。一天，他把帽子放进手推车里，沿路去市场。路很远，帽匠走得又热又累。他来到一棵树下坐了下来，很快就睡着了。树上有猴子，帽匠对此并不知情。猴子们向下一望，看到了很多帽子。它们从树上下来拿走了帽子。每只猴子都戴上一顶帽子，然后又都爬到了树上。

过了一阵，帽匠醒了。他的手推车空空如也，里面没有一顶帽子。“我的帽子哪儿去了？”他说。他找找左边，看看右边，四下里寻找。后来他抬头一看，看到了戴着他的帽子的猴子。“噢，天哪！”他想，“这些淘气的猴子偷了我的帽子。”他冲它们挥挥拳头，猴子也挥挥它们的拳头。帽匠有了个主意。他脱下自己戴的帽子，扔到地上。猴子们也脱下它们的帽子扔到地上。帽匠把他的帽子捡起来放到手推车里，急忙离开这里赶往市场。