Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1952-12-01

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new clothes that he spent all his
money on being well dressed. He
cared nothing about reviewing his
soldiers, going to the theatre, or
going for ride in his carriage, ex-
cept to show off his new clothes.
He had coat for every hour of
the day, and instead of saying as
one might, about any other ruler,
1.-THE Kings in council" here they
always said, 1.-THE Emporer's in his
dressing ROOM"
In the great city where he lived,
life was always gay. Every day
many strangers came to town, and
among them one day came two
swindlers. They let it be known
they were weavers, and they said
they could weave the most magnif-
icent fabrics imaginable. Not only
were their colors and patterns UNI
commonly fine, but clothes made
of this cloth had a wonderful way
of becoming invisible to anyone
who was unfit for his office, or
who was unusually stupid.
Those would be just the clothes
for me-" thought the Emperor. IF
I wore them would be able to dis
cover which men in my empire are
unfit for their posts. And could
tell the wise men from the fools.
Yes, I certainly must get some of
the stuff woven for me right
away" He paid the two swindlers
large sum of money to start
work at once.
They set up two looms and pre-
tended to weave, though there was
nothing on the looms. All the
finest silk and purest gold thread
which they demanded went into
their travelling bags, while they
worked the empty looms far into
the night.
'T'd like to know how those
weaveis are getting on with the
CLOTH" the Emperor thought, but
he felt slightly uncomfortable when
he remembered that those who
were unfit for their position would
not be able to see the fabric. 1t
couldn't have been that he doubted
himself, yet he thought he'd rather
send someone else to see how
things were going. The whole
town knew about the cloths pecul-
lar power, and all were impatient
to find out how stupid their neigh
bors were.
I'll send my honest old min
lister to the weaver" the Emperor
decided. Hell be the best one to
tell me how the material looks, for
he's a sensible man and no one
does his duty better"
So the honest old minister went
to the room where the two swindl-
ers sat working away at their
empty looms.
Heaven help me-" he thought
as his eyes flew wide open, II
can't see anything at ALL" But he
did not say so.
Both the swindlers begged him
to be so kind as to come near to
approve the excellent pattern, the
beautiful colors. They pointed to
the empty looms, and the poor
old minister stared as hard as he
dared. He couldn't see anything,
because there was nothing to see.
Heaven have mercy" he thought.
Can it be that I'm fool ? I'd have
never guessed it, and not a soul
must know. Am I unfit to be the
minister? It would never do to
let on that I can't seq the cloth"
Don't hesitate to tell us what
you think of it, said one of the
weavers.
"Oh, it's beautifully enchant-
ing The old minister peered
through his spectacles. "Such a
pattern, what colors! I'll be sure
to tell the Emperor how delighted
l am with it,"
We're pleased to hear that"
the swindlers said. They proceeded
to name all the colors and to ex-
plain the intricate pattern. The
old minister paid the closest at
tention, so that he could tell it
to the Emperor. And so he did.