Once upon a time, there was a peddler. Every day, he would go from street to street, alley to alley with his goods to hawk. On this day, it was extremely hot. After walking for a long time, the peddler was very tired. He came to a big tree and planned to take a break. The peddler was wearing his shabby yet precious hat and fell asleep leaning against the tree trunk.
In this big tree, there lived a group of naughty monkeys. They jumped around in the tree all day long and were full of curiosity about everything around them. At this time, a little monkey noticed the peddler sleeping under the tree, especially the hat on the peddler's head. The little monkey found it very interesting.
The little monkey carefully climbed down from the tree and moved towards the peddler bit by bit. The other monkeys watched from the tree, with their eyes also full of curiosity and excitement. The little monkey gently stretched out its little hand, grabbed the peddler's hat, and then quickly climbed back up the tree.
The peddler was sleeping soundly and didn't notice that his hat had been stolen. The little monkey held the hat in its hand, looking at it left and right. The other monkeys gathered around, and they chattered about this new thing.
The monkeys began to play with this hat in the tree. Some monkeys put the hat on their heads and imitated the way the peddler walked, waddling around, which made the other monkeys laugh heartily. Other monkeys regarded the hat as a small basket and put the small fruits from the tree into it. However, before long, they got tired of this game.
At this time, the peddler was awakened by the noise in the tree. He touched his head and found that his hat was gone. He looked up and saw the group of monkeys in the tree playing with his hat. The peddler was both angry and amused, and he wanted his hat back.
The peddler shouted at the monkeys in the tree, "Little monkeys, that's my hat. Give it back to me." But the monkeys simply ignored him and continued to play with the hat. The peddler was worried and he began to find a way to climb the tree to get his hat. But the tree was very tall, and he failed to climb it several times.
The peddler thought for a while, and then took out a banana from his package. He waved the banana at the monkeys in the tree and said, "Little monkeys, look, I have a banana. Give me my hat back, and I'll give you the banana." When the monkeys saw the banana, their eyes lit up.
A big monkey slowly climbed down the tree trunk. It held the peddler's hat tightly in its hand while its eyes were fixed on the banana in the peddler's hand. When it climbed very close to the peddler, the peddler handed the banana to the big monkey, and the big monkey returned the hat to the peddler.
The peddler got his hat back and heaved a sigh of relief. He watched the monkeys happily eating the banana and also found it very interesting. Then, he put on his hat and started his hawking journey again. And the monkeys, after eating the banana, began a new round of play in the tree.
