), and painted it five different
colors. In the town where Juan was to operate, there were only three
stores. He went to each one of them and deposited twenty pesos,
saying to the owner of each, "I will deposit twenty pesos in your
store, and to-morrow afternoon I will bring some friends here with
me. We will perhaps take some refreshments or buy some goods, but in
any case I will see to it that the total amount of the things we take
is not over the twenty pesos. Then, when we leave, do not ask me to
pay you for the things. I will simply make you a bow with my hat,
and your attendants should thank me with much courtesy. That mere
bow with my hat is to be the payment. You may keep the twenty pesos,
but you must also keep this little plan a secret." The owners of the
three stores promised.

The next day Juan was walking in the street with his painted hat on,
when one of his friends met him. "Halloo, Juan!" exclaimed his friend,
"where did you get that funny hat?"

Juan looked serious, and said, "Don't be foolish! Don't you know that
this hat is the only means I have of earning a living?"

"Means of living?" returned the other.

"Why, of course. I can go in any store, take anything I please,
and pay for it with a mere bow of my hat."

By this time two other friends of Juan had come along, and they
too were surprised to see what Juan had on his head. To convince
them of the marvellous character of the hat, Juan took his friends
to one of the stores. There they sat down, and Juan ordered some
refreshments. They ate much, and of the best that the store could
furnish. After they had had enough, Juan stood up, made a bow to the
proprietor with his hat, and then they all left. Then they visited
another store, where the same thing took place.

The friends of Juan were very much astonished, and each wished to
possess the hat. One offered him a thousand pesos for it; another, two
thousand; and the third, one-half of all his property, which amounted
to about five thousand pesos. Juan, of course, was willing to sell it
to the highest bidder; but when the sale was about to be concluded,
the buyer began to doubt the power of the hat. So he asked Juan to
take him to another store to prove once more the qualities of the hat,
after which trial, he said, he would pay him the money. Juan took
his friend to the third store, and the friend was now sure that the
hat could really work wonders. So he paid Juan the five thousand pesos.