Story of the Week #3

"The King and the Hat-maker"

is adapted from a folktale from The Philippines, but versions are also found in

Serbia, Wales, Ireland and Greece.

Once upon a time there was a king who was very famous throughout
the realm for his amazing hats, one day he could have a hat that
looked like a fruit basket full of fruit and grapes hanging over the
edge. Another day his hat looked like an apple tree with miniature
apples. His people always looked forward to viewing the hat of the
day. But the king had a secret, a secret that only his hat-maker knew.
The hat-maker knew that the king had a horn on his head. And the
king was ashamed of his horn. He felt different and thought that
the people would be angry with him or laugh at him.

When the hat-maker was measuring the king's head and designing
new hats, the king asked, "Why are you looking at my head?"

"I see nothing," replied the hat-maker, because even though he could
clearly see the horn, he was afraid of saying that.

In his fear, the king said, "If you tell someone what you've seen,
you'll die," said the president. The hat-maker was very scared. It
was so hard to keep a secret, especially a secret that was as great
as this one. The hat-maker was so stressed by keeping the secret
that he could barely sleep, could barely eat and could barely
think of anything else.

The hat-maker was afraid; but when he thought about the secret
more and more, the will to tell someone else became stronger. He
knew he could not keep it. Finally he went on a walk far outside
the castle wall, into a meadow, until he reached an old stone well.
He looked down in the round well and only saw a handful of
water and some bamboo, plants that resembled reeds. After
looking around on all sides, assuring that there were no people
anywhere in the meadow, the hat-maker leaned over the edge of
the well and shouted, "The king has a horn on his head." It felt
so good that he shouted once more. And the third time he leaned
over the well and shouted. On the way home he felt lighter and
relieved, no longer weighted down by the secret. He went home.

Not long afterwards another man came past the well with his
sheep. He leaned over the well and looked for water but found
none. Instead he  took out a small knife and cut off a piece of
the bamboo plant and made a small flute for playing music. As
soon as he started playing the flute, he heard a strange song
"The king has a horn on his head." Each time he played the
flute, the same song came out. He did not really understand
what that meant. Some people came along the way on their
way to the market, and when they passed the man who played
on the flute, they stopped in amazement when they heard
"The king has a horn on his head".

These people hurried into the market and began to tell what they
had heard. The people there went to the man to listen to that
strange song. They informed others, and soon the news had
spread throughout the city and also to the king's castle.

When the king heard, he was ashamed that everyone now knew
his secret, and the king sent for the hat-maker. “Who did you tell?”
the king demanded. When the hat-maker declared that he had
shouted into an empty well, the king sent for the man with the
flute. The man with the flute explained how he had found
bamboo in the well and made his flute. The king could not
punish either the hat-maker or the man with the flute, because
it was no one’s fault that his secret had come to light.

The king understood that it was time to let go of his secret,

time to not be afraid to be different. In the future, the king

decided to continue to wear amazing hats but now the horn

could be seen a little bit through the hat. That he was different

was not to be forgotten and slowly the king got used to showing

his horn and not be ashamed of it.
©️ Laurina Bergqvist