The Emperor's Transparent Folly

Once upon a time, in a distant realm, there lived an emperor with a grand mustache, bushy eyebrows, and a large, round belly. He was incredibly vain and obsessed with his own appearance.

"I am so amazing!" he would exclaim. "Look at my gorgeous eyebrows! Look at my awesome mustache! I look fantastic!"

The emperor adored opulent clothing. He had a thousand pairs of fancy socks, three hundred pairs of fancy pants, and four hundred fancy shirts. He also enjoyed using fancy words like "Discombobulate," "Empirical," and "Cantankerous" to sound intelligent, even though he had no idea what they meant.

"I am so INTELLIGENT!" he declared. "I'm a genius!"

One day, a man arrived at the palace, claiming to be a tailor who could create the most opulent clothing in the land. In truth, he was a con man who made a living by deceiving the rich and powerful. He brought ten suitcases with him.

"Your most majestic and INTELLIGENT majesty," he said, "everyone knows you are the most intelligent man in the world. I have created some fantastic new clothing that only intelligent people can see. Stupid people can't even see these garments."

The emperor clapped his hands. "Wonderful! With these clothes, I can tell who is foolish and who is smart! I swear, fools will never bother me again! Please, let me try on these clothes!"

The tailor stripped the emperor down to his underpants and pretended to take measurements of his shoulders, arms, legs, and large round belly. He then pretended to pull a shirt from one of the suitcases.

"This one is too big. No, this one is too small. Ah, this one is perfect!" He mimed lifting a shirt from the suitcase. "What do you think?" asked the tailor.

The emperor gasped. He couldn't see anything!

"Isn't it amazing?" the tailor exclaimed. "Only the brightest minds can see it!"

The tailor reached into his suitcase again. “Look at these pants! Aren’t they beautiful? And they are completely invisible to idiots! And look at this jacket! See the colors? A complete nincompoop will see absolutely nothing!”

“Oh, yes… very nice!” stammered the emperor. But he was confused. Why couldn't he see the clothes? “Surely it’s not possible that I am an idiot?!” he thought. “A complete moron would not know fancy words like 'Vestibule,' 'Crepuscular,' or 'Flibbertigibbet.'” But the emperor said nothing.

The tailor pretended to dress the emperor in the invisible shirt, pants, jacket, and shoes. The emperor stood in front of the mirror. He wanted to see the clothes, but all he saw was his big, round belly and his underpants.

“I’m not sure that it’s really my style…” said the emperor. “But let me get a second opinion.”

The emperor called his three most INTELLIGENT friends into the room. “Friends! What do you think of these new clothes? Only INTELLIGENT people can see these clothes. Stupid people see nothing at all!”

Of course, his friends didn't see anything either. But they didn't want to look stupid.

“Oh, yes! That is a great shirt!” said the first friend.

“Yes! The pants are the perfect color,” said the second friend.

“Cool shoes!” said the third friend.

The emperor was excited. “I will wear these new clothes in the parade tomorrow!”

The emperor gave the tailor a lot of money. The tailor left the palace with ten suitcases full of gold. Once he was safely in his carriage, he laughed long and hard. “What a doofus!”

The emperor didn't sleep at all that night. He stayed up late, reading the largest, heaviest books in his library. "All I need are a few more fancy words," he thought, "then I'll be able to see my clothes!"

In the morning, two servants came to the emperor's room to dress him for the parade. Of course, they couldn't see any clothes either. But they said nothing. They didn't want to look stupid. They pretended to dress the emperor in invisible pants, an invisible shirt, an invisible jacket, and an invisible hat.

The emperor looked at himself in the mirror. He stared and squinted. He turned his head left and right. And… wait! … There it was! Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a slight shimmering fabric. A checkered pattern. A tiny bit of color. He could see the clothes!

In reality, there were no clothes. But we often see what we want to see. The emperor was happy that he could finally see the clothes. “Let’s join the parade!” he shouted.

Everyone in the town was at the parade. All the intelligent people were there: scientists, writers, teachers, and children. The emperor stood in his open carriage and waved to the crowd. But as the emperor’s carriage drove down the street, the crowd fell silent. The music stopped. Everyone stared at the emperor.

“These clothes must be AMAZING…” thought the emperor.

But then, from the back of the crowd, a small child yelled: “Mommy, I can see his underpants!”

Everyone gasped. Then there were a few giggles. And then everyone on the street laughed— and laughed— and laughed even harder. They clapped and shouted: “UN-DER-PANTS! UN-DER-PANTS!”

The emperor heard the crowd laugh. He knew he had been fooled. He wasn’t wearing special clothes. He was wearing NOTHING! — only his underpants. He jumped out of the carriage and ran all the way back to the palace. Behind him, he heard: “UN-DER-PANTS! UN-DER-PANTS!”

He ran to his bedroom and slammed the door. Later, when his friends found him, he was lying on his bed. He was wearing all his REAL clothes: all his fancy shirts, all his fancy pants, and all one thousand pairs of fancy socks.

Moral of the Story:

Pride and vanity can make people blind to the truth, and sometimes, it takes the honesty of a child to reveal what everyone else is too afraid to acknowledge.