There was once a hat-seller who passed a forest on his way back from the market. The weather was very hot and so he decided to take a nap under a tree, leaving his basket of hats by his side.

When he woke some hours later, he noticed all his hats had gone. He heard noises in the tree and he looked up. To his surprise, the tree was full of monkeys, and they had taken the hats.

The hat-seller began to think of how he could get the hats back. He thought and thought and absent mindedly scratched his head. The next moment, he realised that the monkeys were doing the same action.

He took off his own hat and saw the monkeys do exactly the same. An idea came to him: he took his hat and threw it on the floor. The monkeys copied him and the hat-seller got all of his hats back.

Fifty years later, his grandson, Jack, also became a hat-seller. One day, just like his grandfather, he passed by the same forest, it was very hot, and he took a nap under the same tree and left the hats on the floor. Jack woke up and saw that all of his hats were gone. He looked up and realised that the monkeys had taken the hats. Jack had heard his grandfather’s story many times so he started scratching his head; the monkeys scratched their heads.

Jack took off his hat and fanned himself; again the monkeys copied. Jack threw his hat on the floor but, to his surprise, the monkeys held on to their hats.

Suddenly, one monkey climbed down the tree, grabbed the hat on the floor, gave Jack a slap and said, ” Do you think you’re the only one to have a grandfather?”

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With thanks to Tilly Bud from whom I borrowed this tale