As a child, I read the story of Bartholomew and the 500 hats. This story made an indelible impression upon me and I never knew why. In fact, until today, I had not thought about it for decades, since I was in elementary school.

However, the story appealed to me in a very different way. I began to see some very practical lessons from the story. According to Wikipedia, the story, written in 1938, was set in feudal times in the Kingdom of Didd. A poor young lad, named Bartholomew Cubbins removes his hat according to the laws in obeisance to the King Derwin.

However, a strange thing happens. Each time Bartholomew removes his hat, another one mysteriously appears on his head. This is viewed as a public act of contempt and disrespect for the laws of the land and the king who summons young Bartholomew to his royal court to face execution.

Beginning his journey up the long winding staircase in the king’s castle (as best as I can remember) Bartholomew continues to remove a hat, each step along the way. Each time he does, another hat appears, but each one more extravagant and beautiful than the other beginning with the first of the final 50 hats.

As he is threatened with death, the 500th hat, studded with massive gems and gilding, comes off and the lad’s head is bare once again. However, rather than executing Bartholomew, the King Derwin is so awestruck by its beauty that he grants reprieve of the death sentence and trades 500 gold coins for the 500th hat.

Life is about removing hats. Like Bartholomew, we have hats (habits, attitudes and behaviors) that are contemptible and retard our success. Refusing to remove them prevents us from getting to our beautiful hats. On the other hand, the more we remove these by continuing to develop as a person, the more beautiful the next hat becomes.

Secondly, it takes some time before we get to the beautiful hats. Often we quit working on our bad habits too soon to see the wonderful effect this process has on our lives. If a man would but persist, eventually he removes enough of the bad “hats” that he gets to a point where every action is a ongoing experience of continuing excellence.

Finally, it is after the removal of all the hats that we eventually create something of astonishing beauty in our lives. This is when we have mastered self, removed our base desires and random thoughts having refined them along the way with practical skills to craft and create at will. What we have is so valuable that even Kings will pay huge fortunes in exchange for the value we bring.