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Chester the bear was tired of being a regular, old brown bear. He wanted to be a fancy bear. So, he decided his first step would be to procure a truly magnificent hat. After much searching, he found it: a hollowed-out, perfectly-sized watermelon rind. It was striped green and dark green, smelled wonderfully sweet, and sat upon his head like a jungle crown.

"Ah, the perfect headwear," Chester boomed, admiring his reflection in a clear stream.

His friend, Stella the stoat, giggled. "Chester, you look like a giant fruit salad waiting to happen! Does it keep your ears warm?"

"It keeps my mind... creative," Chester declared.

He decided to wear his watermelon hat to the annual Forest Feast. On his way, he met Milton the mole, who was struggling to carry a basket of particularly large, slightly bruised plums. "Oh, dear," said Milton, wiping his brow. "My biggest and best plums keep rolling out of the basket!"

Chester, feeling particularly creative in his new hat, looked down. "My dear Milton, I have a solution! I shall carry them in my magnificent hat!"

Milton looked skeptical, but Chester carefully took off the rind and inverted it. It made a surprisingly sturdy, striped fruit bowl. He and Milton carefully loaded the plums into the watermelon-hat-basket.

At the Feast, all the animals were immensely impressed by Chester's quick thinking. "What a handy vessel!" cried Penny the parrot. "It’s a hat, a bowl, and it matches your coat!"

Chester, not only looking fancy but also feeling useful, wore the watermelon rind as a hat for the first half of the party and then used it to serve the plums for dessert. It was the only time in forest history that a bear had worn and served his own hat. By the time he went home, the brim was a little sticky, but Chester decided being a useful, fancy bear was the best kind of bear to be.