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Tale Summary

There was once an Emperor who loved new clothes to the point of excess and spent all of his money and time buying and showing them off. One day, two swindlers come to the town disguised as weavers, and claim to be able to make beautiful garments with rich colors and patterns, but which are only visible to those who are worthy of the positions they hold, and are invisible to the impossibly dull and those who are not fit for their jobs. The Emperor is enthralled and gives them a large sum of money in advance to make the clothes. He wishes to check up on their progress, and, having his own reservations, sends his minister to see the weavers in his stead. The faithful old minister finds the two swindlers pretending to be hard at work at their looms, and can’t see a single bit of fabric because it is not really there. He worries that he may not be fit for the position he holds, and does not dare tell the Emperor he cannot see anything, so he pretends to be able to see it. The Emperor sends another official to see the stuff, and the same thing happens to him. Soon, the whole town is talking about how splendid the fabrics are. Wishing to see it for himself before it is taken off of the loom, the Emperor goes accompanied by the two men he had sent to check up on it. He cannot see a thing either and worries that he himself is not worthy of being the emperor. But, he lies, and exclaims that the patterns and the colors are beautiful. Everyone in the suite agrees with him, and the two swindlers are given an order of knighthood. The next day, a very big deal is made out of dressing the Emperor in his new clothes, and they tell him that they are marvelously light so that he will not feel like he is wearing anything at all. They ‘dress’ him, and he starts a procession to show off his new clothes, with chamberlains pretending to be holding up his train while he walked. The entire town pretends, also, to see the clothes, until a little boy shouts that he is naked, and everyone else begins to say the same thing. The Emperor knows that they are right, but continues with the procession anyway.

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