e nothing!' But he did not
say so.

Both the impostors begged him to be so kind as to step closer, and
asked him if it were not a beautiful texture and lovely colours. They
pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went forward
rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing, for there was nothing
there.

'Dear, dear!' thought he, 'can I be stupid? I have never thought that,
and nobody must know it! Can I be not fit for my office? No, I must
certainly not say that I cannot see the cloth!'

'Have you nothing to say about it?' asked one of the men who was
weaving.

'Oh, it is lovely, most lovely!' answered the old minister, looking
through his spectacles. 'What a texture! What colours! Yes, I will
tell the Emperor that it pleases me very much.'

'Now we are delighted at that,' said both the weavers, and thereupon
they named the colours and explained the make of the texture.

The old minister paid great attention, so that he could tell the same
to the Emperor when he came back to him, which he did.

The impostors now wanted more money, more silk, and more gold to use
in their weaving. They put it all in their own pockets, and there came
no threads on the loom, but they went on as they had done before,
working at the empty loom. The Emperor soon sent another worthy
statesman to see how the weaving was getting on, and whether the cloth
would soon be finished. It was the same with him as the first one; he
looked and looked, but because there was nothing on the empty loom he
could see nothing.

'Is it not a beautiful piece of cloth?' asked the two impostors, and
they pointed to and described the splendid material which was not
there.

'Stupid I am not!' thought the man, 'so it must be my good office for
which I am not fitted. It is strange, certainly, but no one must be
allowed to notice it.' And so he praised the cloth which he did not
see, and expressed to them his delight at the beautiful colours and
the splendid texture. 'Yes, it is quite beautiful,' he said to the
Emperor.

Everybody in the town was talking of the magnificent cloth.

Now the Emperor wanted to see it himself while it was still on the
loom. With a great crowd of select followers, amongst whom were both
the worthy statesmen who had already been there before, he went to the
cunning impostors, who were now weaving with all their might, but
without fibre or thread.

'Is it not splendid!' said both the old statesmen who had already been
t