A young peasant named Bartholomew Cubbins lives on the outskirts of a grand kingdom with his family. They are a poor family, which forces them to wear modest clothing (much of which has been passed down over generations by family members). In particular, Bartholomew's hat has been passed down through several generations.
But it is Bartholomew's hat which gets him into trouble. One day, when he is in town, King Derwin passes by him on horseback. And when a King passes a layman, the law says, one must remove their hat, something which Bartholomew is unable to do because of his rather strange and unique ability to grow hats on top of his head. Naturally, Bartholomew gets into trouble and is taken to the King's castle so that more people could try to remove it. Many try, but all fail to remove Bartholomew's hat, so he is sent to be executed - which also fails because he is wearing a hat.
Thus, the King sends Bartholomew to be thrown off a building, which is when his new hats begin to grow more strange. But the King eventually changes his mind and exchanges a tremendous amount of gold coins for all of Bartholomew's hats.
