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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CHAPTER 1 : STARTING A JOURNEY

When I‘m broke or want something different, I always look for a ship to sail in the sea. I don’t get on a ship where rich people travel and I don’t travel as a cook or a cleaner either. I join the boats as a simple crew member.

I don’t like being ordered about by others. This is a great change to my regular life, as I do not take orders from anyone else. I like giving orders. When the captain tells me to take a brush and clean the floors, I do it. Because I know this is a right thing to do. They pay me for this. And I like the smell of the sea and the fresh air of the wild winds, too.

“This time, I’ll get on a whale boat.” I decided.

Most of the ships hunt for whales in the Ocean. The best place to find a whale hunter ship is Nantucket island on the east coast of America.

When I arrived at New Bedford on Saturday night, the ship going to Nantucket had already started its journey, so I had to stay in Bedford for a night or more.

It was getting darker. I stopped wondering where to spend the night. There was a little money in my pocket. “Ismail, you have to ask the fee for a room.” I thought to myself.

I saw an inn by the sea. The door of it was open. I could hear the voices coming from inside. I opened the door. There was a long table that the seamen drank at. The seamen called that table “Jonah”, because it looked like a jaw of a whale. As it was written in one of the books I read that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

“Have you got a roomfor tonight?” I asked the owner of the inn.

“No.” he said. “We don’t have any vacant rooms.” Then he thought. “Can you share a bed with another man?”

“With whom?” I asked.

“With a seamen who uses a harpoon!”

By the way, let me tell you what a harpoon is.

“OK.” said the man. “If you don’t sleep with him you will have nowhere to stay.”

I thought about the stormy night outside. Then I said; “I have to share a room with this man even if he is a monster.”

“I think so.” said the man. “Sit down. You’d like dinner, wouldn’t you? It will be ready soon.” The inn-keeper brought the men their dinner.

“It is as cold as Zeland.” said one of the men.

“Yes, it is.” said the inn-keeper. “I don’t have money to buy wood.”

I held a tea cup to heat my hands. A pudding made with potatoes, sugar, oil and flour was put on the table. A man with a green coat began to eat fast.

“I’m hungry.” he said.

“If you eat fast, you will have nightmares at night.” said a man.

“Is this the seamen you’ve told me about?” I asked whispering to the inn-keeper.

“Oh, no. He is a negro. He never eats anything sweet. He only eats meat.”

“Where is this man? Is he here?” I asked.

“He’ll be here soon.” said inn-keeper.

I didn’t feel happy to share a bed with a man. I decided that the man should go to bed first. That’s why I had to spend the night listening to seamen’s stories. These men got off the ships which came to the port in the morning. So they brought the recent news. While I was listening to the men, the inn-keeper told me that the man I was going to share the bed with wouldn’t come. He took a candle and showed me my room.

He took me to a small, cold room. It was large enough for four people to stay in.

“Here is your bed! Have a nice sleep.” he said and left me the candle.

WORDS

Journey   (a holiday or trip)

To be broke  (to have no money, to be bankrupt)

To look for   (to search)

To sail  (to move briskly)

Crew member  (one who is part of a crew, one who is part of a work group)

To order   (to request for some product or service)

To hunt   (to  chase down prey and kill it)

To wonder   (to ponder about something)

Fee  (a payment, charge)

Inn  (any establishment where travellers can procure lodging, food and drink)

Seamen  (plural of seaman, sailor)

A jaw   (chin)

To swallow   (to cause to pass from the mouth into the stomach)

Vacant  (empty)

Harpoon  (a spearlike weapon with a barbed head used in hunting whales and large fish)

Monster   (a terrifying and dangerous, wild or fictional creature)

Inn-keeper   (a person who runs an inn)

Flour   (powder of other material)

Nightmare (a very bad or frightening dream)

To whisper   (to act of speaking in a quiet voice)

Negro  (a person with black or dark)

Port  (harbor)

Candle  (a light source consisting of substance such as wax, tallow or paraffin)

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