The Emperor's New Clothes

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Many years ago, there lived an emperor who cared so much about new clothes that he spent all his money on them. He did not care about his soldiers or about the theater. He only cared about showing off his new outfits, and he had a different coat for every hour of the day. In the city where he lived, life was merry, and strangers arrived every day.

One day, two swindlers came to the city. They said they were weavers, and that they could make the most beautiful cloth in the world. The colors and patterns were extraordinarily fine. But clothes made of this cloth also had a wonderful quality: they were invisible to anyone who was unfit for his position or who was hopelessly stupid.

"Those would be fine clothes indeed," thought the emperor. "I could find out which of my ministers are unfit for their posts, and I could tell the wise from the foolish." He gave the swindlers a great deal of money so that they could begin work at once. They set up two looms, and they pretended to work day and night. In reality, there was nothing on the looms at all.

After a few days, the emperor sent his oldest minister to see how the work was going. The honest man opened his eyes wide. "Heaven help me!" he thought. "I can't see anything!" But he did not dare to say so. "Well?" asked the swindlers. "It is very beautiful," said the minister. "The colors, the pattern! I shall tell the emperor that I am delighted." Another official was sent, and he, too, saw nothing and praised the cloth.

At last, the emperor went himself, followed by a large group of attendants. He looked and looked, and he saw nothing. "Is it not splendid?" said the ministers. "I have never seen anything like it," lied the emperor, terrified. "It has my highest approval." The swindlers were then given the title of Imperial Court Weavers, and the emperor was ordered to wear the new clothes in the great procession.

On the morning of the procession, the swindlers pretended to dress him. They lifted their arms as if they were carrying a train. "How well they fit!" cried everyone. So the emperor walked under a beautiful canopy, and all the people in the street said, "How fine the emperor's new clothes are!" Nobody wanted to admit that they saw nothing, because they would be thought unfit or stupid.

Then a small child said aloud, "But he has nothing on!" "Listen to the innocent!" said his father, but the words passed from one person to another until the whole crowd was shouting, "He has nothing on!" The emperor shivered, because he knew that the people were right. But he thought, "The procession must go on." So he held his head higher, and the attendants walked behind him, carrying the train that was not there.