In the great city in which he lived life was very gay. Every day many strangers arrived. One day two rogues came who gave themselves out to be weavers, and said that they could weave the finest cloth any one could imagine. Not only were its colors and patterns uncommonly beautiful, but the clothes which were made of this material possessed the wonderful property of becoming invisible to any one who was not [[17]]fit for the office he held, or who was uncommonly stupid.
“Those must indeed be capital clothes,” thought the Emperor. “If I wore them I could find out which men in my kingdom are unfit for the offices they hold; I could distinguish the wise men from the stupid. Yes, some of that cloth must be woven for me at once.”
So he paid both the rogues a large sum of money in advance so that they might begin their work at once.
They put up two looms and went through all the motions of weaving, but they had nothing at all on their looms. They also demanded the finest silk and the purest gold [[18]]thread,—all of which they put into their own pockets; and they went on working away at the empty looms all day long and far into the night.
“I should like to know how those weavers are getting on with the stuff,” thought the Emperor. But he felt a little queer when he remembered that any one who was stupid or unfit for his post would not be able to see it. He felt very sure that he had nothing to fear for himself, but still he preferred to send some one else first to see how the weaving was getting on. Everybody in the town knew what a wonderful power the cloth had, and all were curious to see how bad or how stupid their neighbors were.
“I will send my faithful and honored old minister to the weavers,” thought the Emperor. “He can judge best what the stuff is like, for he is clever, and no one fulfills his duties better than he does.”
So the good old minister went to the hall where the two rogues sat working at the empty looms. [[19]]
“Heaven preserve us!” thought the old minister, opening his eyes wide. “I cannot see anything at all.” But he did not say so.
