uExpress.com: Tell Me A Story by Amy Friedman and Jillian Gilliland -- (07/11/2010) adapted by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland

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adapted by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland

07/11/2010

Once upon a time there was a peddler who wandered from place to place, market to market, village to village, wearing his wares upon his head. This would have seemed odd, but the peddler sold caps, and it was these he wore upon his head -- first his own striped cap and then atop that the many caps of many colors, cap upon cap upon cap. At the very top of this mountain of caps, the peddler wore his favorite red caps!

Naturally the peddler had to take care to walk straight and tall so that those caps would not topple from his head. As he walked along, he called out, "Caps for sale, caps for sale. Buy a blue one or an orange one, green or purple, yellow or red! Buy your caps right here!"

One beautiful summer morning the peddler woke and piled his caps upon his head. He was planning to travel far that day, all the way to a village many miles from his own. He would have to walk up hills and down valleys, across streams and narrow paths. Though it was hot, he was looking forward to his day, for the peddler, you see, loved to walk, especially with all those caps upon his head.

He set off smiling, and walked to the first village, and then to the next, and soon he was in the countryside where all the flowers were blooming and the sun was shining brightly. He began to whistle a little tune:

"Caps for sale, caps for sale! Come one, come all!

"Caps for sale, caps for sale! For the short and for the tall.

"Black caps and red caps, yellow caps and blue.

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"Caps for the people! Caps for me and for you!"

The peddler covered several more miles when he spotted a beautiful river. Beside the river grew a tall, stately tree offering plenty of shade. "Ahh," the peddler sighed at the sight of that tree. "Perhaps I'll just sit here a while to rest. It's tiring walking all this way -- and standing up so straight and tall!"

As carefully as he could, the young man sat down beneath the tree, reaching up to make sure all his caps remained atop his head.

"A-ha!" he cried with relief. Soon he closed his eyes, and before long he was fast asleep.

When at last he woke, he yawned and stretched his toes and his legs and his fingers. He felt much better for his nap, and now he knew he would have energy to walk to the faraway village where he would sell his caps.

He reached up to make sure the caps were still atop his head. He touched his striped cap. Yes, it was there, sure enough. But then he raised his hand to count the other caps, and they were gone!

He looked to his right, but there were no caps there.

He looked to his left. No caps!

He looked behind him, but there was nothing but the river and the bright blue sky to see. He looked behind the tree, but there were no caps.

Suddenly he heard a sound. Looking up, there on the tree, on every single branch, sat a monkey, and every single monkey was wearing a cap. Some monkeys wore blue caps, and some wore purple; some were wearing black caps, and some wore yellow. Some monkeys in the highest branches farthest away were wearing bright red caps.

The monkeys stared down at the peddler, and he stared up at them.

Furious, the peddler shook his fist at those monkeys.

And the monkeys shook their fists at him.

The peddler waved a finger at them. "Give me back my caps!" he entreated, arms outstretched.

Every one of those monkeys stretched out their arms and began to chatter, but he couldn't understand a word any of them said.

The peddler was getting angry, and he shook both fists at those monkeys and cried, "Now, give me my caps!"

The monkeys shook their fists at him and chattered faster and faster.

The peddler stamped his feet and screamed, "Monkey, give me my caps!"

And those monkeys stamped their feet and shrieked at the top of their lungs.

The peddler was close to tears, and he could stand it no longer. His face had turned redder than his reddest cap. He snatched his striped cap from his head and flung it angrily to the ground and turned on his heel to walk back home.

But just as he turned, those monkeys each pulled the caps from their heads, and down from the tree flew all those caps -- blue and black and purple and yellow -- and last of all, those red caps landed on the ground.

The peddler put his striped cap back on his head, and he picked up the blue caps and put those on top of the striped cap. Then he put the black caps atop the blue ones, and the yellow atop the black, and the purple ones upon the yellow ones, and at last he picked up those bright red caps and placed them on the very top. And now he felt even happier than he had before, for not only did he know how to balance a mountain of caps upon his head, he knew how to trick a tree full of monkeys.

"Caps for sale! Caps for sale!" he called as he walked on.

(Adapted from numerous versions of Serbian artist Esphyr Slobodkina's original "Caps for Sale.")

"Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder," the third CD in the audiobook series, is now available. For more information, please visit www.mythsandtales.com.