The Emperor's New Clothes

Many years ago, there was an Emperor who loved new clothes so much that he spent all his money on them. He did not care about his soldiers at all, and he only went to the theater or out hunting because it gave him a chance to show off his new clothes. He had a different suit for every hour of the day.

Visitors arrived every day at the court in his busy capital. One day two dishonest men appeared and said that they were weavers. They said that they could make cloth with the most beautiful colors and patterns. Clothes made from this cloth, they said, had a wonderful power: nobody who was very stupid or not good enough for his job could see them.

"These must be wonderful clothes!" thought the Emperor. "If I had a suit like that, I could find out at once which men in my empire are not good enough for their jobs. I could also tell the wise people from the fools! They must make this cloth for me immediately." So he gave the two men a lot of money, and they could begin straight away.

The two false weavers put two big machines for making cloth in a room. They pretended to work very hard, but in fact they did nothing at all. They asked for the finest silk and the best gold thread, and they put it all into their own bags. Then they went on with their pretend work at the empty machines until late at night.

"I would like to know how the work on my cloth is going," the Emperor said to himself after some time. But he felt a little nervous about going himself. He remembered that a fool, or a man who was not good enough for his job, would not be able to see the cloth. By now, the whole city knew about the wonderful power of the cloth. Everyone wanted to find out how wise or how foolish their neighbors were.