Long ago, in a town near Mysore, there lived a cap seller named Ramu. He sold colourful caps — red, blue, green, yellow, and orange. He carried all his caps in a big bundle on his head.

One hot afternoon, Ramu was walking through a forest to reach the next village. The sun was blazing. Ramu was tired and sweaty.

“I need to rest,” he said. He sat under a tall banyan tree and placed his bundle of caps beside him. He kept one red cap on his head and soon fell fast asleep.

When Ramu woke up, his bundle was empty! All his caps were gone!

“Where are my caps?” he cried. He looked left. He looked right. He looked behind the tree. Nothing!

Then he heard chattering sounds above him. He looked up and — oh no! The banyan tree was full of monkeys! And every monkey was wearing one of his caps!

“Give me back my caps, you naughty monkeys!” shouted Ramu.

But the monkeys just imitated him. When Ramu shouted, the monkeys shouted. When Ramu waved his arms, the monkeys waved their arms. Monkeys love to copy whatever they see!

Ramu was very frustrated. “How will I get my caps back?” he thought. He tried throwing stones. The monkeys threw twigs. He tried shaking the tree. The monkeys just held on tighter.

Then Ramu had a brilliant idea! He remembered that monkeys copy everything.

Ramu took the red cap off his own head and threw it on the ground.

The monkeys watched. Then, one by one, every monkey took off its cap and threw it on the ground too! They were copying Ramu!

Caps rained down from the tree — red, blue, green, yellow, orange! Ramu quickly gathered all his caps, put them back in his bundle, and walked away whistling happily.

“Sometimes,” said Ramu with a smile, “you need to use your brain, not your muscles!”

And from that day, Ramu always made sure to sleep with one eye open when passing through monkey forests!