ght before the day on which the
procession was to take place, and had sixteen lights burning, so that
every one might see how anxious they were to finish the Emperor's new
suit. They pretended to roll the cloth off the looms; cut the air with
their scissors; and sewed with needles without any thread in them.
"See!" cried they at last, "the Emperor's new clothes are ready!"

And now the Emperor, with all the grandees of his court, came to the
weavers; and the rogues raised their arms, as if in the act of holding
something up, saying, "Here are your Majesty's trousers! here is the
scarf! here is the mantle! The whole suit is as light as a cobweb; one
might fancy one has nothing at all on, when drest in it; that,
however, is the great virtue of this delicate cloth."

"Yes, indeed!" said all the courtiers, altho not one of them could see
anything of this exquisite manufacture.

"If your Imperial Majesty will be graciously pleased to take off your
clothes, we will fit on the new suit, in front of the looking-glass."

The Emperor was accordingly undrest, and the rogues pretended to array
him in his new suit; the Emperor turning round, from side to side,
before the looking-glass.

"How splendid his Majesty looks in his new clothes! and how well they
fit!" every one cried out. "What a design! what colors! these are,
indeed, royal robes!"

"The canopy which is to be borne over your Majesty, in the procession,
is waiting," announced the chief master of the ceremonies.

"I am quite ready," answered the Emperor. "Do my new clothes fit
well?" asked he, turning himself round again before the looking-glass,
in order that he might appear to be examining his handsome suit.

The lords of the bed-chamber who were to carry his Majesty's train,
felt about on the ground, as if they were lifting up the ends of the
mantle, and pretended to be carrying something; for they would by no
means betray anything like simplicity, or unfitness for their office.

So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the
procession, through the streets of his capital; and all the people
standing by, and those at the windows, cried out, "Oh! how beautiful
are our Emperor's new clothes! what a magnificent train there is to
the mantle! and how gracefully the scarf hangs!" in short, no one
would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes, because,
in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or
unfit for his o