Page 13 - English Class 05

Many, many years ago, there 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 well dressed always. 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; everyday 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 that 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 also ambition : wish

possessed the wonderful quality of being invisible to any swindlers : cheaters
man who was unfit for his office or unpardonably stupid. unpardonably : not worthy
for forgiveness
“That must be wonderful cloth,” thought the emperor. pretended : showed
“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 one who was not

fit for his office could not see it. Personally, he was of the 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

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