The Emperor’s New Clothes

A long time ago, there was an emperor who liked new clothes very much. Whenever he had new clothes, he enjoyed having a parade through the street.

One day, two lairs, one fat and one thin, came to the country. They pretended to be tailors. The told the king they could weave the most unique clothes in the world. The emperor invited them to the palace to begin their work. They asked for lots of gold thread and jewelry for the most unique clothes.

“Your Majesty, the new clothes are so special that only the wise man fit for his job can see.” said the liars.

A few days later, the emperor asked a loyal official to the tailors.

“ Sir, is the pattern of the clothes pretty?” asked the two liars.

The official couldn’t see anything. “ My goodness, I can see nothing. Am I a fool?” he thought.

The official was afraid of losing face. So he pretended to touch the clothes and said, “ Oh! How beautiful the clothes are!” He went back and told the emperor he just saw the most special clothes in the world.

The emperor sent more officials to the liars and they came back with the same message.

“ They can see the clothes. I can, too.” the emperor said to himself. Therefore, the emperor went to the tailors with those officials. The two liars pretended they were working hard when they saw the emperor and officials. But in fact, they were doing nothing. “ Look! Your Majesty, here is a suit of clothes. Isn’t it pretty?” the two liars said.

The emperor looked carefully but he could see nothing. He asked those officials beside him for their opinions. They all answered with one answer, “ Oh! It is very fancy and unique, your Majesty. It is only fit for you.”

On hearing that, the emperor was nervous and thought, “ What’s wrong? Am I stupid and unfit to be a king? No, I can never let people know the truth.” So the king agreed, “ Well, they indeed are unique clothes. I love them.”

When the emperor had a parade on the street as usual, all the people were dumb struck. All in a sudden, a little boy cried out, “ Hahahaha, the emperor has nothing on him!” All the people heard him and laughed.

At that time, the emperor found out he was fooled and felt embarrassed.