Page 16 - Moral Stories Vol 6

After a few days, he was curious to know the progress, so he sent one of his finest courtiers who was known to be wise and efficient. But when the courtier went to the impostors, he could not see any cloth, the impostors continued to wave their hands and use sewing needles in thin air as if they were knitting something. The courtier was shocked, he did not want everyone to know that he was unfit for his office or unpardonably foolish. So he went back to the king and reported that the weavers were indeed weaving the finest clothes ever made.
As more days passed, the king kept sending some of his finest statesmen to watch the progress. None of them could see any cloth, but chose to keep quiet and praise the wonderful nature of the clothes. They did not want the king to find out that they were unworthy of their job. The word caught up, and everyone in the kingdom started talking about
this magnificent4 work.
The king thought it fit to wear the new clothes and walk around the kingdom. A grand procession was planned. But when he went to meet the weavers, he could see nothing. However, all the courtiers that accompanied the king praised the clothes. “Magnificent! extraordinary!”, they all said. The king thought that he was the foolish one, but did not tell anyone about it. The impostors made the king remove his
clothes and acted as if they put on new ones.
He was led to the procession where all the citizens of the kingdom were waiting to get a glimpse of the splendid clothes. But all that everybody could see was their king walking without clothes. However, no one wanted the other to know that they were foolish. So they simply praised the clothes. The entire crowd cheered, “splendid clothes! worthy of our king!”. The king was very happy to note the applause and walked majestically around the kingdom’s streets.
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