MANY, many years ago lived
an emperor, who thought so much of new clothes that he spent all his
money in order to obtain them; his only ambition was to be always
well dressed. He did not care for his soldiers, and the theatre did
not amuse him; the only thing, in fact, he thought anything of was
to drive out and show a new suit of clothes. He had a coat for every
hour of the day; and as one would say of a king “He is in his
cabinet,” so one could say of him, “The emperor is in his
dressing-room.”
The great city where he resided was very gay; every day many
strangers from all parts of the globe arrived. One day two swindlers
came to this city; they made people believe that they were weavers,
and declared they could manufacture the finest cloth to be imagined.
Their colours and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionally
beautiful, but the clothes made of their material possessed the
wonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit for
his office or unpardonably stupid.
“That must be wonderful cloth,” thought the emperor. “If I were
to be dressed in a suit made of this cloth I should be able to find
out which men in my empire were unfit for their places, and I could
distinguish the clever from the stupid. I must have this cloth woven
for me without delay.” And he gave a large sum of money to the
swindlers, in advance, that they should set to work without any loss
of time. They set up two looms, and pretended to be very hard at
work, but they did nothing whatever on the looms. They asked for the
finest silk and the most precious gold-cloth; all they got they did
away with, and worked at the empty looms till late at night.
“I should very much like to know how they are getting on with the
cloth,” thought the emperor. But he felt rather uneasy when he
remembered that he who was not fit for his office could not see it.
Personally, he was of opinion that he had nothing to fear, yet he
thought it advisable to send somebody else first to see how matters
stood. Everybody in the town knew what a remarkable quality the
stuff possessed, and all were anxious to see how bad or stupid their
neighbours were.
“I shall send my honest old minister to the weavers,” thought the
emperor. “He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he is
intelligent, and nobody understands his office better than he.” |