The Emperor's New Clothes

Once there was an emperor who loved fine clothes more than anything.One day two men came to his city and said, "We are weavers.""We can make magic cloth," they said. "A stupid person cannot see it, and a person who is bad at their job cannot see it either."

The emperor thought, "With clothes like that, I can find out who in my land is clever and who is stupid."He gave the two men lots of gold, and they started to work.But their looms were empty; they asked for silk and fine thread, and hid it all in their bags.

After a few days the emperor sent his honest old minister to look at the cloth.The old man stared at the empty loom and saw nothing. "Am I stupid?" he thought. "Am I bad at my job?"He was afraid to tell the truth, so he said, "Oh, how beautiful! What lovely colours!"

Soon the whole city was talking about the emperor's wonderful new cloth.Then the emperor went to see it himself, with his finest officers.He looked and looked, but he saw nothing at all. "I must not say so," he thought, and he said, "Yes, it is very fine."

When the cloth was "ready", the two men helped the emperor put on his new clothes."Now walk through the city," they said, "so all your people can see them."So the emperor walked down the street with no clothes on, and everyone called out, "How wonderful! What a beautiful suit!"

Then a little child said in a loud, clear voice, "But he has nothing on!"Soon everyone was saying it, and the emperor knew it was true — but he lifted his head higher and walked on to the end.