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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Kids
- Theme: Survival / Success
- Subject: Community / Home
- Published: 04/13/2019
HATS OFF TO MR FEATHER
A story for children by Jane Lockyer Willis
Mr Feather lived all by himself in a very small house on the edge of a very large town.
He sold socks in a department store. The socks were all different sizes and colours. There were red socks and yellow socks. There were grey socks and purple socks.
Mr Feather knew everything there was to know about socks. He had sold them every working day for twenty five years.
Because he had been selling socks for so long, the other shop assistants decided to give him a party. They collected some money from all the other shop assistants to buy Mr Feather a present.
One kind lady, who sold sweets and chocolates, made him a beautiful cake with twenty five candles on it. On top of the cake there was a blue sock made out of icing sugar. Mr Feather was delighted to have been given a party. He blew out his candles with one puff. Everybody clapped.
“Three cheers for Mr Feather,” they all called. “Hip, hip! Hooray! Hip, hip! Hooray! Hip, hip! Hooray!”
They gave him a smart cap to wear with a check pattern all over it. There were little flaps at the side of the cap that Mr Feather could pull down to keep his ears warm when the weather grew cold.
Mr Feather smiled and smiled. He felt very happy to have all this fuss made of him.
A very pretty lady came up to speak to him. She was wearing a little hat with a long ostrich feather pinned to it. The feather fluttered every time she moved her head.
“I helped to choose your present,” she said, smiling.
“Fancy that!” said Mr Feather, licking his sticky fingers.
“My name is Miss Ribbon,” she said. “And I work upstairs in the hat department.”
“Is that where my hat came from?” he asked.
She nodded and the feather on her hat fluttered so much that it made Mr Feather sneeze. She asked him if he would like to have a look at her hats. So after the party was over, they both went up one floor to the hat department. They went up in a lift.
Mr Feather had never seen so many different kinds of hats. There were large hats and small hats and medium sized hats. There were hats for men and hats for women. They were all different shapes and sizes. Some were small and dainty. Others were large with big bows and flowers on them.
That night, Mr Feather could not stop thinking about Miss Ribbon and her hats. Selling hats sounded much more exciting than selling socks.
He sat up in bed with a start. That was it! He would open a hat shop. Yes, it was time for a change. He had saved his money over the years. He could use that to open his shop.
A few days later, Mr Feather saw an empty shop on the corner near where he lived. Outside the shop there was a notice. It read: TO LET.
The shop was quite a long way from the centre of the busy town where most people did their shopping. But Mr Feather was so excited he did not think about that.
“I will take it!” he told the estate agent who was in charge of renting the shop.
“Done!” said the estate agent.
“Done!” said Mr Feather. And they both shook hands.
When Mr Feather moved into his new shop, he gave it a fresh coat of paint. Then he bought lots of ladies and gentlemen’s hats from a very big store called a wholesaler.
The hats were brought to the shop in a large lorry.
Mr Feather arranged some of them on hat stands, some of them in the windows and the rest he placed into four big drawers.
Mr Feather called his shop, HATS GALORE because there were so many of them.
When everything was ready, he placed a large notice on the window. It read: OPEN.
Mr Feather sat down on a tall stool inside the shop and waited for his first customer.
He waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
But no one came. No one rang the shiny bell. And no one walked over his nice new doormat which said, WELCOME.
Oh, people walked past Hats Galore. They walked past every day on their way to work. But they were in such a hurry to get into town they had no time to stop and look into his shop window. And when they came home in the evening, they were too tired to bother.
One day, a very large lady came into the shop.
A customer at last! thought Mr Feather. The lady had a very loud voice. She looked round the shop and pointed to a hat. It was made of blue straw with a big pink rose on the front.
“I will try that one,” she said, in a bossy voice.
But it was too small for her large head.
Then she saw a hat with a big blue spotted bow.
“I will try that one,” she said. But that was too small as well.
The lady grew cross.
“I wanted to buy a hat to wear at my son’s wedding,” she said. “But they are all the wrong size.”
“I am so sorry madam,” said Mr Feather.
He searched in all the drawers but could not find a hat to fit her.
“I won’t come here again!” she said and stamped her foot.
She was very cross indeed and slammed the door on her way out.
Mr Feather sighed. Perhaps he should have stayed with socks after all.
He sat on his stool, took out a red spotted handkerchief and wiped away a large tear.
One day, Miss Ribbon came to visit him.
When Mr Feather told Miss Ribbon how bad things were, she sat down and had a long think.
She thought.
And she thought.
And she thought.
“I know!” she said at last: “The carnival!”
“What about the carnival?” asked Mr Feather with a sniff.
“It is next month.”
“So it is,” said Mr Feather.
“We could make hats,” said Miss Ribbon.
“Hats for the carnival? Is that what you mean?”
“That is exactly what I mean,” she replied.
“But no one wants to buy my hats,” said Mr Feather, blowing his nose.
“Not these hats,” said Miss Feather. “Different hats: Hats to make people laugh. We could sell them by the road side. Near where the carnival passes by. We could set up a stall.”
“Do you mean a little open air shop?”
Miss Ribbon nodded.
She took a red straw hat from off one of the stands and put it on her head. Then she turned it around, so that the front was now at the back.
Mr Feather laughed. “You do look funny!” he said.
Then he put three hats on his head: One on top of the other.
And Miss Ribbon and Mr Feather laughed and laughed until happy tears rolled down their cheeks.
But suddenly Mr Feather stopped laughing. He became very serious.
“Where can we get the funny hats from?” he asked. “I can’t afford to buy any. I do not have any more money.”
“We will make the hats ourselves,” said Miss Ribbon. “We will make them out of cardboard and paste.”
“Miss Ribbon, you are a genius!” And they did a little dance around the shop.
For the next four weeks, Miss Ribbon made lots and lots of hats for the carnival. Mr Feather helped stick on bits of feather and ribbon and silk. They worked together as a team. At last they were finished.
“Phew!” said Mr Feather.
“Phew!” said Miss Ribbon as she put the very last dab of paint onto the very last hat.
The day of the carnival arrived. They set up their stall. It was a long way from the shop. It was right in the centre of town where the carnival would pass by. The stall looked very pretty with pink, red and blue balloons tied to the sides. Nobody could miss seeing it. It was so colourful.
As for the hats! They came in all shapes and sizes. Some of them looked like monkey faces and cockerel faces and rabbit faces. Others were like clowns. Some looked like roses with smiling faces. Some hats had lace and net on them.
Miss Ribbon had found so many bits and pieces in her very large sewing basket.
She dressed up as Little Bo Peep and wore a blue and white bonnet. Mr Feather wore his cap with the little flaps.
At twelve o’clock, a brass band marched round the corner. They marched past the hat stall. There were drums, trombones and cymbals. Such a noise! The people in the band wore red jackets with shiny brass buttons on them. They gleamed in the sunlight.
Next came the clowns. Some of the clowns walked on stilts. There were acrobats and dancers.
One young boy threw lots of balls into the air and caught them without dropping any.
There were flags waving and ice cream and toffee apples for sale.
Everyone clapped and cheered and waved and laughed.
But Mr Feather and Miss Ribbon were too busy selling their hats to watch any of it. There was a queue stretching quite a long way down the street: All waiting to be served.
Mr Feather gave each customer a little card with the name and address of “Hats Galore” shop printed on it.
Soon all the cards had gone and so had all the hats. Sold every one!
“What would I have done without you, Miss Ribbon?” said Mr Feather, as he poured her a large cup of tea.
“I have enjoyed every minute of it,” she said, popping a lump of sugar into her cup.
“So have I!” exclaimed Mr Feather, and helped himself to a ginger biscuit. “I hope now that people will come and visit “Hats Galore.”
“They will!” replied Miss Ribbon. “You wait and see.”
And she was right. They did.
The little door bell jangled and jangled as more and more customers came to the shop.
Mr Feather became so busy that he asked Miss Ribbon to come and work with him. She said yes.
Soon Miss Ribbon began designing hats especially for “Hats Galore.” The hats had little labels stuck inside which read: “Designed by Miss Ribbon.”
Next time your mum buys a hat, have a look inside the brim. You never know. It may have been designed by Miss Ribbon.
THE END
c: Jane Lockyer Willis
Jane is author of TEA AT THE OPALACO and Other Stories (Adults)
GUYS AND GHOSTS: A Comedy thriller for adults.
Both published by: HATS OFF TO MR FEATHER
TEA AT THE OPALACO & Other Stories - https://tslbooks.uk/product/tea-at-the-opalaco-and-other-stories-2/
GUYS AND GHOSTS - a comedy thriller - https://tslbooks.uk/product/guys-and-ghosts-jane-lockyer-willis/
HATS OFF TO MR FEATHER(Jane Lockyer Willis)
HATS OFF TO MR FEATHER
A story for children by Jane Lockyer Willis
Mr Feather lived all by himself in a very small house on the edge of a very large town.
He sold socks in a department store. The socks were all different sizes and colours. There were red socks and yellow socks. There were grey socks and purple socks.
Mr Feather knew everything there was to know about socks. He had sold them every working day for twenty five years.
Because he had been selling socks for so long, the other shop assistants decided to give him a party. They collected some money from all the other shop assistants to buy Mr Feather a present.
One kind lady, who sold sweets and chocolates, made him a beautiful cake with twenty five candles on it. On top of the cake there was a blue sock made out of icing sugar. Mr Feather was delighted to have been given a party. He blew out his candles with one puff. Everybody clapped.
“Three cheers for Mr Feather,” they all called. “Hip, hip! Hooray! Hip, hip! Hooray! Hip, hip! Hooray!”
They gave him a smart cap to wear with a check pattern all over it. There were little flaps at the side of the cap that Mr Feather could pull down to keep his ears warm when the weather grew cold.
Mr Feather smiled and smiled. He felt very happy to have all this fuss made of him.
A very pretty lady came up to speak to him. She was wearing a little hat with a long ostrich feather pinned to it. The feather fluttered every time she moved her head.
“I helped to choose your present,” she said, smiling.
“Fancy that!” said Mr Feather, licking his sticky fingers.
“My name is Miss Ribbon,” she said. “And I work upstairs in the hat department.”
“Is that where my hat came from?” he asked.
She nodded and the feather on her hat fluttered so much that it made Mr Feather sneeze. She asked him if he would like to have a look at her hats. So after the party was over, they both went up one floor to the hat department. They went up in a lift.
Mr Feather had never seen so many different kinds of hats. There were large hats and small hats and medium sized hats. There were hats for men and hats for women. They were all different shapes and sizes. Some were small and dainty. Others were large with big bows and flowers on them.
That night, Mr Feather could not stop thinking about Miss Ribbon and her hats. Selling hats sounded much more exciting than selling socks.
He sat up in bed with a start. That was it! He would open a hat shop. Yes, it was time for a change. He had saved his money over the years. He could use that to open his shop.
A few days later, Mr Feather saw an empty shop on the corner near where he lived. Outside the shop there was a notice. It read: TO LET.
The shop was quite a long way from the centre of the busy town where most people did their shopping. But Mr Feather was so excited he did not think about that.
“I will take it!” he told the estate agent who was in charge of renting the shop.
“Done!” said the estate agent.
“Done!” said Mr Feather. And they both shook hands.
When Mr Feather moved into his new shop, he gave it a fresh coat of paint. Then he bought lots of ladies and gentlemen’s hats from a very big store called a wholesaler.
The hats were brought to the shop in a large lorry.
Mr Feather arranged some of them on hat stands, some of them in the windows and the rest he placed into four big drawers.
Mr Feather called his shop, HATS GALORE because there were so many of them.
When everything was ready, he placed a large notice on the window. It read: OPEN.
Mr Feather sat down on a tall stool inside the shop and waited for his first customer.
He waited.
And he waited.
And he waited.
But no one came. No one rang the shiny bell. And no one walked over his nice new doormat which said, WELCOME.
Oh, people walked past Hats Galore. They walked past every day on their way to work. But they were in such a hurry to get into town they had no time to stop and look into his shop window. And when they came home in the evening, they were too tired to bother.
One day, a very large lady came into the shop.
A customer at last! thought Mr Feather. The lady had a very loud voice. She looked round the shop and pointed to a hat. It was made of blue straw with a big pink rose on the front.
“I will try that one,” she said, in a bossy voice.
But it was too small for her large head.
Then she saw a hat with a big blue spotted bow.
“I will try that one,” she said. But that was too small as well.
The lady grew cross.
“I wanted to buy a hat to wear at my son’s wedding,” she said. “But they are all the wrong size.”
“I am so sorry madam,” said Mr Feather.
He searched in all the drawers but could not find a hat to fit her.
“I won’t come here again!” she said and stamped her foot.
She was very cross indeed and slammed the door on her way out.
Mr Feather sighed. Perhaps he should have stayed with socks after all.
He sat on his stool, took out a red spotted handkerchief and wiped away a large tear.
One day, Miss Ribbon came to visit him.
When Mr Feather told Miss Ribbon how bad things were, she sat down and had a long think.
She thought.
And she thought.
And she thought.
“I know!” she said at last: “The carnival!”
“What about the carnival?” asked Mr Feather with a sniff.
“It is next month.”
“So it is,” said Mr Feather.
“We could make hats,” said Miss Ribbon.
“Hats for the carnival? Is that what you mean?”
“That is exactly what I mean,” she replied.
“But no one wants to buy my hats,” said Mr Feather, blowing his nose.
“Not these hats,” said Miss Feather. “Different hats: Hats to make people laugh. We could sell them by the road side. Near where the carnival passes by. We could set up a stall.”
“Do you mean a little open air shop?”
Miss Ribbon nodded.
She took a red straw hat from off one of the stands and put it on her head. Then she turned it around, so that the front was now at the back.
Mr Feather laughed. “You do look funny!” he said.
Then he put three hats on his head: One on top of the other.
And Miss Ribbon and Mr Feather laughed and laughed until happy tears rolled down their cheeks.
But suddenly Mr Feather stopped laughing. He became very serious.
“Where can we get the funny hats from?” he asked. “I can’t afford to buy any. I do not have any more money.”
“We will make the hats ourselves,” said Miss Ribbon. “We will make them out of cardboard and paste.”
“Miss Ribbon, you are a genius!” And they did a little dance around the shop.
For the next four weeks, Miss Ribbon made lots and lots of hats for the carnival. Mr Feather helped stick on bits of feather and ribbon and silk. They worked together as a team. At last they were finished.
“Phew!” said Mr Feather.
“Phew!” said Miss Ribbon as she put the very last dab of paint onto the very last hat.
The day of the carnival arrived. They set up their stall. It was a long way from the shop. It was right in the centre of town where the carnival would pass by. The stall looked very pretty with pink, red and blue balloons tied to the sides. Nobody could miss seeing it. It was so colourful.
As for the hats! They came in all shapes and sizes. Some of them looked like monkey faces and cockerel faces and rabbit faces. Others were like clowns. Some looked like roses with smiling faces. Some hats had lace and net on them.
Miss Ribbon had found so many bits and pieces in her very large sewing basket.
She dressed up as Little Bo Peep and wore a blue and white bonnet. Mr Feather wore his cap with the little flaps.
At twelve o’clock, a brass band marched round the corner. They marched past the hat stall. There were drums, trombones and cymbals. Such a noise! The people in the band wore red jackets with shiny brass buttons on them. They gleamed in the sunlight.
Next came the clowns. Some of the clowns walked on stilts. There were acrobats and dancers.
One young boy threw lots of balls into the air and caught them without dropping any.
There were flags waving and ice cream and toffee apples for sale.
Everyone clapped and cheered and waved and laughed.
But Mr Feather and Miss Ribbon were too busy selling their hats to watch any of it. There was a queue stretching quite a long way down the street: All waiting to be served.
Mr Feather gave each customer a little card with the name and address of “Hats Galore” shop printed on it.
Soon all the cards had gone and so had all the hats. Sold every one!
“What would I have done without you, Miss Ribbon?” said Mr Feather, as he poured her a large cup of tea.
“I have enjoyed every minute of it,” she said, popping a lump of sugar into her cup.
“So have I!” exclaimed Mr Feather, and helped himself to a ginger biscuit. “I hope now that people will come and visit “Hats Galore.”
“They will!” replied Miss Ribbon. “You wait and see.”
And she was right. They did.
The little door bell jangled and jangled as more and more customers came to the shop.
Mr Feather became so busy that he asked Miss Ribbon to come and work with him. She said yes.
Soon Miss Ribbon began designing hats especially for “Hats Galore.” The hats had little labels stuck inside which read: “Designed by Miss Ribbon.”
Next time your mum buys a hat, have a look inside the brim. You never know. It may have been designed by Miss Ribbon.
THE END
c: Jane Lockyer Willis
Jane is author of TEA AT THE OPALACO and Other Stories (Adults)
GUYS AND GHOSTS: A Comedy thriller for adults.
Both published by: HATS OFF TO MR FEATHER
TEA AT THE OPALACO & Other Stories - https://tslbooks.uk/product/tea-at-the-opalaco-and-other-stories-2/
GUYS AND GHOSTS - a comedy thriller - https://tslbooks.uk/product/guys-and-ghosts-jane-lockyer-willis/
JD
04/28/2019That's a really fun short story for kids, Jane! Thanks so much for sharing your stories on Storystar! : )
ReplyHelp Us Understand What's Happening
Help Us Understand What's Happening
JD
04/29/2019PS. Congratulations on being selected as one of the Short Story STARS of the Week! : )
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