THE LEADING DEMOCRAT—Don't forget, you're a constitutional monarch.
THE TAILOR—If the King will wear my robe to-day I can go on with my journey to find the cloth the world has lost. Already I have found a King who can see, and it only remains to discover whether there is vision in his people, too.
THE KING (musing)—Hum! If the people can see it, hey? That's a bit of a risk now, isn't it? When I wear that robe of your magic cloth it might be a good idea to have something warm and substantial underneath. It wouldn't do to have any mistakes, you know. After all, I don't want a lot of stupid louts thinking I'm parading around in my B. V. D.'s.
THE LEADING DEMOCRAT—Does your majesty mean to suggest that the common people of Marma, from whom he derives all his just powers, are not to be trusted?
THE KING—You know I didn't mean that. Of course I trust the people. I realize perfectly well that they'd die for me and all that, but, after all, you can't be sure of everybody in a big crowd. There'll be fishwives, you know, and Socialists and highwaymen and plumbers and reporters and everything.
THE LEADING DEMOCRAT—It all gets down to this, your majesty: do you trust the people, or don't you?
THE KING—I trust them as much as you do, but I don't go to excess. I don't see any good reason why I shouldn't wear an ordinary business suit under this magic royal robe. A King can't take chances, you know. He must play it safe.
THE TAILOR—Don't say that, your majesty. You're a King, your majesty. Think of that. You mustn't tap in front of you, like a blind man with a stick. You mustn't fear to bump your head. If you hold it high, you know, there'd be nothing to fear but the stars.
THE KING—You are eloquent, O stranger from a far country, and what do you mean?
THE TAILOR—Only this: if you wear my robe you must cast off compromise and expediency.