Once a sailor went ashore on the coast of South America. He had a number of blue woollen caps with him, which he wanted to sell. On his way to the town some distance from the coast, he had to pass through a forest in which there were great numbers of monkeys. At noon, with the sun directly overhead and the heat intense, the sailor decided to take a rest. He lay down under the shade of a large tree, took one of the caps, put it on his head, and soon fell asleep.
When he awoke, he found, to his surprise, that the caps were all gone! Soon he heard a loud noise among the thick branches above him, and he looked up. He saw the trees alive with monkeys, and on the head of each monkey was a blue woollen cap! The monkey had watched his actions, had stolen his caps while he slept and had put them on, and now they did not pay any attention to his shouts.
When the sailor saw that he could not get his caps back, he pulled off the one that he had on his head and threw it on the ground, crying out, “If you want to keep the rest, you may take this one too!” To his great surprise, the little animals did the same. Each took the cap off its head and threw it on the ground. The sailor got his caps back and went away in triumph.
1. There were a lot of monkeys.
a) at some distance from the forest
b) in the wood not very far from the coast
c) on the coast of South America
2. What did the sailor decide to do at noon?
a) to try on one of the woollen caps
b) to take off his cap as it was very hot
c) to lie down and rest
3. What did the sailor see when he woke up?
a) The monkeys were wearing his caps.
b) His companions had all gone.
c) There were a lot of birds singing in the trees.
4. Seeing that he could not take the caps back, the sailor
a) sat down and began to cry
b) thought that it was a funny sight and laughed heartily
c) thought that he could never have the caps back
5. What did the little monkeys do?
a) They repeated the sailor’s actions.
b) They were touched by the sailor’s tears and returned the caps.
c) They took the cap off the sailor’s head.
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