Once upon a time, there was an emperor who was specifically and merely fond of new clothes. Minutes after he dropped his scepter back to the cushion and hastily nodded to the flatters, he eagerly ran into the study and discarded all the books and documents on the shelves. “Build them as exquisitely as possible,” he immediately summoned a group of artifacts to replace the room with wardrobes, “for they will hold all the conquered for me.” His idea was to not only fill the shelves with the clothes he already owned; they should be able to contain every new clothes that he encountered and favored.

His mother ran over every corner of the castle to find his son after he disappeared from the ceremony, and finally saw him when she was on the brink of losing her breath-- then, she rolled her eyes and had to lean on the door so she would not fall. “O, what will your father think of me if he sees this scene,” she cried as she saw all documents rubbed, ripped, and piled in the very corner of the room. “We, the leaders of the country, were expected to do goods for our people.” The king frowned in response and whispered something to a servant near him before turning around and diving into the room again. His voice was so soft that no one else heard what he had said, but what came next is his mother’s room had transferred to the dimmest and dampest corner of the castle. Day by day, none of the ministers got near the former queen’s room to avoid hearing her none-stop sobs; they also feared that if they got any closer, the next ones sobbing like her would be them. “See what her ending is,” they whispered as they trot by, “only support his hobby, or else you are doomed.”

Clothes piled up in the king’s palace; meanwhile, the size of the pile of gold shrunk. People in the palace, however, seemed to remain unsatisfied. “How beautiful your clothes are, your highness,” a cunning administrator exclaimed as he bowed near the king and lifted the corner of the king’s dress, “You should have at least ten more similar clothes! I guess imposing a heavier tax on your people should do.” The king nodded, and with this nod, the linen rags of his peasants went coarser even than before.

People could somehow maintain their living conditions until another famine broke out. The wheat they reaped was no thicker than the shell, and taste no more delicious than paper. Each family collected the crops and placed them carefully into a jar, but they could only make them three-quarters full. Then the patrol squad of the king came. Now only one-quarter of cereals were left. Smoke from the kitchens would rise only once per day for each family, and the only meal that resulted from that was only gruel. It seemed like the situation would remain forever, until two brothers passed by the town, noticed what was happening, and decided to take action. “We are here to bring the king the best clothes in the world ever,” they said as they knelt sincerely in front of the royal palace. “Go ahead. I have money.” The king said without lifting his head. “However, there is one thing you should know, your majesty,” the two peasants warned as they pocketed the money, “Only people who deserve their position will be able to see the clothes.” “Oh, is that a type of interesting sorcery?” The king finally rose his head with extra interest, “I am ready to see how beautiful the clothes are! Now, you two, off to work.”

The two brothers dove into the room. If someone was supervising their work through the dull polished window, they would see the two brothers’ shadows constantly moving around the loom. However, as the two brothers left the room, the bag in which they stored the gold and the materials remained untouched. The minute they got back to the village, they distributed the money to the peasants. "Use them to trade with other cities for food," they said. "Sure, but how can you make clothes then?" "We have our special materials," they smiled mysteriously, "Just make sure that when you see the clothes, praise it with the highest respect whether you see it or not. Our clothes are special: only people who deserve their social status can see them. We told this to the king since we think that when the king finds out that he cannot see the clothes, he may reflect on himself and make improvements."

After people held the hands of the two brothers and thanked and thanked before they left, the older one asked the other, “Do you think it is necessary to tell the people that they say they can see the clothes? Do you think they can see it?” The other answered, “It is necessary since I believe they cannot see the clothes. Look how honest, kind, and diligent they are, and look at what miserable conditions they are in. They deserve a much higher status than they possess now, so I guess none of them can see the clothes.” Then, the two exchanged a sorrowful look and went back to the palace. The king constantly sent them new materials so that they can perfect the dress, and they constantly brought them back to their town so that people there could live better.

Five days passed, and the king wanted to check the two workers’ progress. He was very expectant of what the most magnificent dress in the world would look like, so he even planned a parade to exhibit the clothes to everyone in his city. He wanted to preserve the surprise for himself until the last moment, though, so he sent an official to check the progress.

The official proudly accepted his mission and strode to the room where the two brothers worked at. After he opened the door, he stared at the loom, mouth twitching. He saw nothing. "Didn't I deserve my place?" He asked himself. He remained silent for a minute, thinking about what he had done for the king in his past career. Then, when he started to reflect on how little he contributed to the development of the country compared to the king, his face started to look distorted. Then he tucked his hands in his pocket and approached the loom while screeching an out-of-tune sound, and strolled around it. Sometimes he lowered his head as if he is taking a closer look at the clothes; other times he complimented on how beautiful the dress was. “Spectacular piece of work,” he commented as he left the room.

He went back to the king and said, “That was surely the most beautiful garment I have ever seen.” Though said, the doubt of whether he deserved his place grew in his mind.

Another five days passed, and the king was eager to see his new clothes. He still wanted to make sure that the clothes were perfect and spotless before he dresses up in them, though, so he sent another official to check the progress.

The officer, glad that the king gave him the glorious mission, strode to the room where the two brothers worked at. After he opened the door, he stared at the loom, eyes popped out. He saw nothing. "Didn't I deserve my place?" He asked himself. He remained silent for a minute, thinking of what he had done for the king in his past career. Then, when he started to reflect on how little he contributed to the development of the country compared to the king, his sight started to fall on everything but the loom. Then he clasped his hands on his back,  approached the loom, and strolled around it. Sometimes he grabbed something in the air as if he was examining the material used for the clothes; other times he burst words out of excitement. After that, he went back to the king and said, “That was surely the most beautiful garment I have ever seen.” Though said, the doubt of whether he deserved his place grew in his mind.

The king was glad to hear this report, so after two days, the day he designed to check the final product himself, he went to the room. Excited and delighted, he strode to the room where the two brothers worked at. After he opened the door, he stared at the loom and gasped. He saw nothing. “Didn't I deserve my place as a king?” He asked himself. He remained silent for a minute, thinking of what he had done as a king in his past career. Then, a sense of uneasiness grew in his mind when he thought about how little he had done to the country compared to himself.

He didn’t want others to notice his concerns and think he was not a qualified king, however, so he acted as if he saw the prettiest dress in the world and let the others help him dress up for the parade. He spun around in front of the mirror and used his hand to smooth the draperies on his clothes-- though he could not feel any.

 After everything was set, he went on the carriage to meet his people. His administrators followed him, and so did the two brothers. “We will make sure that your clothes are always in the best shape,” they said to the king.

So the parade started. The king stood on the edge of his carriage and waved to the people standing below. He felt detested about the clothes that they wore, though: they were all ragged clothes made of coarse linen and had none of the fashionable designs. However, he was suddenly reminded of the clothes that he could not see: was his malpractice that caused them to wear such ugly clothes?

The uneasiness in his heart even grew larger as he heard only praises in the crowd than doubting sounds. “Why can they see them?” He asked himself while his hands grabbing onto the carriage went wet because of sweat. “Oh! I know. The two men said that their clothes could only be seen by people who deserved their place, and look at their clothes! They were all coarse linen clothes without any decorations. With their poor taste in fashion, no wonder why they are all subjects of me! They deserved it.” Of course, none of the people can see the dress, but they pretend to see it because of the two brother's plan. “But why can’t I see it?” The king murmured to himself.

The elder brother seemed to have known about what the king was thinking, so he came forwards, approached the king, and shook his head, “Your majesty, look how awful the clothes your peasants are wearing! I have never seen such ugly clothes. But guess where the good materials of your people went? Into your closet, my king! Their sacrifices are such noble, my king; but you deserved this.”

In other circumstances, the king would be very, very delighted to hear such flattering. However, the fact that he couldn’t see the clothes at all haunted his mind as the procession proceeded. Finally, his legs started to tremble out of horror: the horror of not being an eligible king, the horror of being detested by his people, and the horror of losing his throne.

He called one of his closest administrators over. “These will be the last gorgeous clothes that I order and wear. See what clothes those peasants wore? The peasants are just pathetic. If I haven’t got this chance to see what is happening to them, I may never be able to see what conditions they are living in. From tomorrow on, I will start improving their lives instead of buying me new clothes.” As his last words ended, glitter on his body flashed by the emperor’s eyes. He suddenly opened his eyes wide open and reached out his hand to touch translucent silk on him. It was like aurora, as it looked like a piece of thick smoke wrapping around the king rather than a solid cloth. Before he touched it, however, the image twinkled and disappeared.

“I saw it, I saw it... The brothers were right.” The king whispered and whispered until an innocent young boy in the crowd broke out, “But he isn’t wearing anything!” The father immediately pulled his kid back to the crowd with horror and gave the others an apologetic look. People around him glared at him and the kid while the other people tried even harder to shout louder, “Yes, your majesty, it is, without doubt, the most beautiful clothes we have ever seen!”

The overly passionate tones warned the king, though. As he cast doubting looks on the crowd, one of his administrators approached and said, “I cannot see the clothes either.” “Yes, yes, I cannot see the dress the entire time.” The other administrators cried out as well.

The king turned around to the two brothers at once and went berserk. “You better explain to me what happened.” He gave them a sullen glare. “We did make you a dress,” they cried, “but we already said that only those who deserve their place can see it!” “You’re lying!” the king shouted, “None of my administrators can see it! And though the peasants say they can see it, they’re all lying! The clothes don't exist at all. How dare you deceive your king! I now sentence you to death!”

With a stern “go”, only two chopping sounds remained in the square. People began to weep as they stood around the bodies of the two brothers to show their deepest respect to their heroes.
The crowd sobbed until they were disturbed by a tight click-clack of heels on the rocky ground. The king's mother hurried towards the square, as she heard about the story of the king and his new clothes. She believed that with this experience, the king would start working hard for the country, and she came here to see the result.

However, as she came to the center of the crowd, she stared at the king. She circled the king, reached out her hand to caress his body, and patted him as if she was trying to soothe something. Finally, she said softly, “I have never seen such a magnificent dress.”