Who Lost Their Hat?

The morning started like usual: Ilya was walking to school with his friends, Nikita and Lisa. It was a cold day, and all the children around them were hurrying to school bundled up in warm hats and jackets. Ilya wore his favorite blue hat with a pompom, and Nikita teased him playfully, saying the pompom bounced funny when Ilya walked.

Ilya laughed back and was about to make a joke about Nikita’s hat when something bright on the sidewalk caught his eye. It was a red hat lying right on the ground. It looked almost brand new, with a big fluffy pompom and a pretty snowflake pattern.

“Guys, look! Someone lost a hat!” Ilya said, picking it up and showing it to his friends.

“Wow, it’s so bright! I wonder whose it is,” said Lisa, examining the find.

“Maybe it belongs to someone from our school? Or even from our class?” Nikita suggested.

Ilya thought it would be a shame to lose such a nice hat. He knew kids often lost things, but this hat looked special—could the owner really not have noticed it was gone? Maybe someone was already looking for it, shivering on their way to school without a hat.

“You know, I think we should try to find the owner,” Ilya said firmly. “We can take the hat to school and show it to the teacher. Maybe it belongs to one of the younger kids, and they’ll be able to return it.”

Nikita and Lisa agreed, and Ilya carefully placed the hat in his backpack. Now they had a mission—to find the hat’s owner and return it.

They continued on their way to school, discussing how they might track down the owner of the found item. Along the way, they encountered other students and, like detectives, asked them if anyone had lost a red hat. But none of the kids recognized it.

“Maybe it belongs to one of the younger students,” Lisa guessed. “Let’s take the hat to Maria Petrovna and ask her to announce the find.”

When they arrived at school, Ilya went straight to his homeroom teacher, Maria Petrovna. She always helped the kids whenever they found lost things, and Ilya knew she would definitely support his plan.

“Maria Petrovna, we found a red hat on the street. Maybe someone from school lost it,” Ilya said, showing the hat.

The teacher smiled and praised the children:

“Well done, kids, for finding it and deciding to return it. That’s a very kind thing to do. I’ll make an announcement during the break so everyone hears. In the meantime, you can place the hat on the windowsill, where everyone can see it.”

The children did as she said. They placed the hat in a visible spot, and as soon as the bell rang, they returned to their seats. Ilya kept sneaking glances at the windowsill, hoping that someone would soon walk in and say, “That’s my hat!”

During the big break, Maria Petrovna announced over the school intercom that a red hat had been found in Ilya Vetrov’s class. She invited anyone who thought it might be theirs to come by and take a look.

After a while, students from other classes started peeking into the room. Some kids just came to see the find, curious to look at it. But no one claimed the hat as theirs.

Finally, after several breaks, a younger boy shyly walked over to Ilya. He looked a bit embarrassed and hesitant. He glanced at the hat and then at Ilya:

“That’s my hat,” he said, biting his lip a little. “I lost it while rushing to school. Thank you for finding it!”

Ilya smiled and handed the boy his hat, who immediately put it on, grinning from ear to ear. Lisa, who had been watching, also smiled, feeling proud of her friend.

“No problem,” Ilya replied with a smile. “We just didn’t want you to be cold.”

The boy thanked them again and left, but his face showed genuine gratitude. The friends watched him go and exchanged pleased smiles.

When school was over and the kids were walking home, Ilya, Nikita, and Lisa talked about how great it felt to help others. Ilya felt like a real hero—after all, they had helped a boy get back his beloved hat.

From that day on, Ilya and his friends decided they would always help those who had lost something valuable. They realized that every time they returned a found item to its owner, it didn’t just help that person—it also brought them joy. And each of them felt how important it was to be attentive and kind to those around them.

Ilya remembered how he had recently lost a pencil with a bright pattern that his grandfather had given him. Back then, his friends helped him find it, and now he was glad he could return the kindness to someone else.

Soon the whole school knew that if anyone lost something, they could always turn to Ilya and his friends. They became true “detectives,” helping classmates and even younger students retrieve their belongings. So, a simple find on the street turned into a wonderful tradition.