Everybody in the country knew his interest and came to see the emperor. One day two men came. They looked very lazy. They introduced themselves as tailors.

“We can make very beautiful clothes for you if you like,” they said. “But our clothes are quite different than the others. They are so beautiful that only clever people can see them.”

“So you will make the best one for me. Mine must be the most beautiful of all.” said the emperor. The men looked happy. The emperor was happy, too. “If I have those kinds of clothes, I can find out which people in my country are foolish.” thought the emperor himself.

“Then make the cloth for me.” he said and paid a fortune to the men. So the men went away to begin their work. Their work took long days. And as they worked, they wanted more and more money. But they did not work at all.

The emperor waited. He got bored. He wanted his new cloth, but he didn’t want to ask to the men if cloth was ready, because he was afraid. On the other hand he was also anxious that he would not see the cloth.

“What should I do if I can’t see the cloth.” he thought. “If I am foolish, of course, I can’t see it. And I should not be emperor.”

Then he called the greatest man in his country to consult about his new cloth. He was also wondering if he would see it.

“Go to the men and  look at the new cloth. I want to know how it looks. And please ask them when it will be ready.”

So the great man went to the house where the two men worked. When he got into the house, he saw them working. But he couldn’t see any cloth at all. But he did not say anything because he did not want to be foolish.

“What are they doing?” the great man asked himself.

The two men asked him to come nearer. “Isn’t our cloth very nice? Didn’t you like it?” asked the men.

“Oh, it is the nicest cloth I’ve ever seen in my life.” said the emperor.

The great man looked in a surprise, because he could not see anything. There was nothing there.

“What!” he thought again. “Am I a fool? I’ve always thought that I am a great man. If anyone knows I am a fool, they never trust me any more. I must not tell anyone that I have not seen the cloth.”

“You have said nothing about our cloth.” said the men again.

“Oh, it is the nicest cloth I’ ve ever seen in my life.” the man answered. “I’ll go to the emperor at once and tell him how nice the cloth is.”

“Thanks a lot.” said the two men. Then they told the great man all about the cloth that was not there.

The great man tried to remember everything about the cloth. Because he thought he would have to tell all the details to the emperor. The two men asked for money again before he left.

After a week or two, the emperor sent another great man to learn what was going on.

“Go and learn when the cloth will be ready,” he said.

This great man went to the lazy men, but he also could see nothing.

“You see how nice the cloth looks.” said one of the men.

“The other great man liked it a lot.” said the other man.

“The other great man is not foolish, because he saw it. If I tell it to anyone that I haven’t seen the cloth, everyone will learn that I am a fool.”

So he looked at the cloth that was not there and said he liked it a lot. He went back to the emperor and said he liked the cloth a lot.

Soon all the people in the city were talking about the beautiful cloth.

“It’s so beautiful that foolish people can’t see it.” they said.

The emperor had been waiting for the cloth for long, so he himself wanted to see it. He took all his great men with him and had a visit to the lazy men. When they got there, the two men seemed to be working very hard.

“You look you’ve liked the cloth a lot.” said one of men to the emperor. “Please look at it more carefully. You will see how pretty it is.” And they acted as if they were holding the cloth in their hands.

“What does it mean?” asked the emperor to himself. “This is very bad. I can see nothing. Am I foolish? Can a fool emperor direct a country? No, nobody must learn this.”

Then he looked at the cloth which was never there. “Can you see how nice it looks?” he said to everyone. “I’ve liked it a lot.”

All the great men there looked and looked; but none of them could see anything. But each one did not want the other to learn that he was a fool. So they said; “Oh, very nice, lovely, very beautiful!”

“Oh, when you wear the dress made by this cloth and walk through the streets, all the people will see how great you are.”

The emperor was not very happy, but he gave the two men more money.

The two men didn’t go to bed that night. They lit some lamps and sat in their room all night.

They wanted the emperor and the others to think that they worked all night.

When the morning came, they cried out, “The emperor’s new clothes are ready.”

As soon as the emperor and the great men heard them shouting, they came near them at once. The lazy men put out their arms; everyone thought that they were showing the cloth to the emperor.

“Here you are, sir! Your lovely clothes!” said the men. “When you put on these clothes, you may think that you have nothing on at all. But that is the great thing about this beautiful cloth. That’s why people pay us so much for it.”

“Yes… yes,” said the great men. But none of them could see the cloth.

“Now, please take off your clothes.” said the lazy men. “When you put these new clothes on, you will see how nice it looks on you. We’ve made them just right for you.”

So the emperor did what he was told. The two men pretended to dress him in the new clothes. They put out their hands and they walked about. They looked at the emperor and touched him. No one knew that they were doing nothing at all. Everyone thought that they were putting the beautiful new clothes on the emperor.

“How nice, how handsome, how clever you are in your new dress!” Everyone cried out. “Only an emperor but no one else should be dressed in such beautiful clothes.”

“I am ready,” said the emperor. On the other hand, he was watching himself at the mirror.

“The clothes are very beautiful. They are just right for me, aren’t they?”

The emperor walked through the streets in front of all the great men and all his servants. People who were standing by or looking out of the windows, cried out, “How beautiful our emperor’s new clothes are!” although they could see nothing.

No one dared to say that he couldn’t see these beautiful new clothes, because nobody would like to be seemed foolish.

But a little child who was not aware of anything cried out; “But the emperor has nothing on!”

“Hear what my child says!” his father cried people around began to whisper one to another. “But he has nothing on!”

Very soon everybody heard of it. They all shouted; “But the emperor has nothing on!” The emperor was very angry, because he knew that the people were right. But he had to go on walking through the crowd. And the great men and the servants all walked after the emperor, looking at the clothes that were not on the emperor.

VOCABULARIES

Emperor  sovereign

Interest   concern

Lazy  loon

To introduce  to familiarize

Tailor  dressmaker

Quite  rather

To find out  to reveal

Foolish  stupid

Fortune  wealth

To go away  to walk off

On the other hand  besides, on the contrary

Anxious  worried

To consult  to confer

To wonder  to worry

To trust  to rely on

Lovely  cute

Through  during, along

To cry out  to scream

To put out  dislocation of a limb

In front of  out front

Servant  maid

To dare  to make bold to

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THE  NIGHTINGALE

The wood went down to sea. Large ships could come near the trees. A lovely little bird lived in that forest. Its house was on one of these trees. This bird was a nightingale. It sang beautifully. A poor fisherman who always came to that forest loved the nightingale singing a lot. He stood there and listened to it.

People from many other countries came to the King’s city, they told the King how much they liked the city, but when they heard the little bird, they all liked it much more than the King’s garden and house. And they spoke about the bird for a long time. The man who visited the King’s city wrote a lot about the nightingale.

People in the other countries read those books. Once the King saw one of these books, he began to read it. He was very pleased to read good things about the place he lived, but suddenly he saw these words: “ Nothing is as good as the nightingale. “

The king was surprised. “ What is this ? “ he said. “Does this bird live in my garden ? Why haven’t I heard it ? Can there be a bird like this in my country? It’s strange. We learn a lot of from the book. “

Then the King called one of his servants. “I’ve read in one of the books that there is a very good singing bird in my garden. They say it sings more beautifully than anything they have ever listened to. Why haven’t I heard of this bird ? Why didn’t anybody tell this to me ? “

The servant was not aware of the bird, either. “ No one has brought it to see me. “ said the servant.

The King was getting angry. “ Take this bird here tonight. I want to head it singing. “

“ Sir, I’ve never heard about that bird and I have never seen it either. If I can find it, I’ll immediately take it here tonight. “

After talking to the King, the servant began to think. He asked everyone, but nobody in the palace heard about it. He looked everywhere, but he could not find it. Then he went back to the King, and said, “ There is no nightingale here. No one has ever seen it or heard of it. “

“ One of my friends sent this book to me. It is written here. There must be a bird like this. You must find it tonight and bring it here. If the nightingale doesn’t come, I can’t guess what I will do. “ said the King in a very angry voice.

The servant ran about again. He ran through the palace, and the other servants ran, too. They didn’t want the king to be angry, because he could do very bad things when he was angry.

At last, the servant found a poor girl who worked in the palace. She helped to cook the King’s food. They asked her if she knew anything about the nightingale.

“ Do you want to mean the nightingale that sings in the wood near the sea ? Yes, I know it. Oh, it sings very well. Every night I go through the wood. I take some food to my ill mother. I take the food that the King doesn’t eat. My mother lives near the sea. So when I walk through the wood, I hear the bird singing there. I sit down for a while and listen to it. It takes me cry every night. “

“ Little girl ! “ said the servant. “ Please, take us to that bird. It is very important for us. “

The other servants and the King’s friends went with the girl. When they heard a cow, the servants and the King’s friends stopped and said, “ Yes, we’ve heard it somewhere before. “

The little girl laughed. “ Oh, no. It is not what we are looking for. It is a cow not a nightingale. We are still long way from the place. “

They went on walking. When they came near a river they heard some frogs.

“ Now, I can hear it. “ said one of the servants. “ It’s just like the noise made by bells.”

“ No, those are frogs. “ said the little girl.

“ But don’t worry. We are very close to it. “

Then the small bird began to sing.

“ There it is ! “ the little girl said. She pointed to a little bird in one of the trees.

“ Is that the nightingale that is singing ? “ asked the servant. “ It doesn’t look very pretty it is like all the other birds. “

“ Hello ! Little, pretty nightingale! “ the girl called out. “ Our King has heard about you, so he wants  you to sing for him. He wonders about your voice.”

“ I’ll be very happy to sing to the King. “ the nightingale said. Then it began to sing. All of the servants were very pleased to listen to it.

“It is just like glass bells, “ said the servant “ why haven’t we heard it before ? It will make the King and all his friends very happy.

“ Shall I sing again to the King ? Isn’t the King here with you ?” said the little bird.

“ Pretty little bird ! The King didn’t come here. He wanted you to go to his palace and sing there for him. Then you will make the King and all his friends very happy.” the servant said.

“ I have never sung in a palace before. I’m used to singing in these green trees. I am not sure if I can sing somewhere else.” said the bird. But it went with the servants to the king when it heard that the King wanted it to go to him.

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