The Magic Japi Hat
A wishing hat that teaches hard work beats wishes.
The Story
The Old Japi
In a village near Nagaon, a boy named Rituraj was helping his grandfather clear the old storeroom when he found it — a japi, the traditional bamboo hat of Assam, dusty and forgotten behind a stack of old rice baskets.
But this japi was different. Instead of plain bamboo, it was decorated with tiny painted scenes — rice fields, rivers, elephants, and a sun made of real gold thread. It was the most beautiful japi Rituraj had ever seen.
"Whose was this?" Rituraj asked.
His grandfather squinted. "I've never seen that before. Must have been your great-great-grandfather's."
The First Wish
That night, Rituraj put the japi on his head — just for fun — and said, "I wish I had a bicycle."
The japi hummed. A warm vibration spread from the bamboo through Rituraj's head and down to his toes. And the next morning, leaning against the mango tree, was a brand-new red bicycle.
"It works!" Rituraj shouted.
He wished for a cricket bat. It appeared. He wished for a kite. It appeared. He wished for a jar of jaggery — his favourite sweet — and it appeared on the kitchen table.
The Wishes Get Bigger
Rituraj's wishes grew. He wished for a TV. For new clothes. For a smartphone. Each wish came true by morning. His family was confused but happy.
But Rituraj noticed something strange. Every time he made a wish, the japi became a little lighter. The gold thread dimmed. The painted scenes faded. The bamboo felt thinner, as if the hat was using itself up.
After ten wishes, the japi looked old and tired. The gold sun was barely visible. The elephants had faded to ghosts.
The Grandfather's Lesson
Rituraj showed the fading japi to his grandfather.
"Ah," said his grandfather. "Now I remember. My grandmother told me about this hat. It was made by a master craftsman who wove a single rule into the bamboo: every wish costs a piece of the hat. When the hat is gone, the wishes stop — and everything they gave you disappears too."
Rituraj looked at the bicycle. The cricket bat. The TV. All of it would vanish.
"How many wishes are left?" he asked.
"Only you and the hat know that," said his grandfather.
The Last Wish
Rituraj thought for three days. He could wish for something enormous — a house, a car, money. But it would all disappear when the hat crumbled.
On the fourth day, he put the japi on his head and said: "I wish to know how to make things with my own hands."
The japi hummed one last time — louder and warmer than ever before — and then crumbled into dust. But Rituraj felt something new inside him: knowledge. He knew how to weave bamboo. How to build a shelf. How to fix a bicycle. How to cook.
The bicycle vanished. The TV vanished. The smartphone vanished. But the knowledge stayed, because knowledge isn't a thing — it's a part of you.
Rituraj spent that summer building a bicycle from scrap parts. It wasn't as shiny as the wished-for one. It squeaked when he pedalled. But it was his, and it would never disappear.
The end.
Before you start
Try It Yourself
Choose your level. Everyone starts with the story — the code gets deeper as you go.
Story Progress
0%Ready to Start Coding?
Here is a taste of what Level 1 looks like for this lesson:
# Which shapes can tile a floor?
# Test if a regular polygon's angle divides into 360°
for sides in range(3, 13):
angle = (sides - 2) * 180 / sides
fits = 360 % angle == 0
name = {3:"Triangle", 4:"Square", 5:"Pentagon",
6:"Hexagon", 7:"Heptagon", 8:"Octagon",
9:"Nonagon", 10:"Decagon", 11:"Hendecagon",
12:"Dodecagon"}[sides]
status = "YES - tiles!" if fits else "no - leaves gaps"
print(f"{name:12s} ({sides} sides, {angle:5.1f}°): {status}")
# Only 3 shapes say YES — can you predict which?This is just the first of 6 coding exercises in Level 1. By Level 4, you will build: Design an Optimal Sun Hat Using Geometry.
By Level 4, enrolled students build: Design an Optimal Sun Hat Using Geometry
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Level 0: Listener
Stories, science concepts, diagrams, quizzes. No coding.
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Level 0 is always free. Coding levels (1-4) are part of our 12-Month Curriculum.