Once upon a time, there was a king who was extremely fond of wearing beautiful clothes. He spent almost all of his money on buying clothes and would change several sets of clothes every day. His love for clothes was beyond ordinary people's imagination. When other countries mentioned him, the first thing that came to their minds was his magnificent attire.
One day, two swindlers arrived. They claimed to be weavers and said that they could weave the most beautiful cloth in the world. This cloth was not only extremely beautiful in color and pattern, but also had a strange property when made into clothes: anyone who was incompetent or hopelessly stupid could not see the clothes.
The king was very happy when he heard this news. He thought, "If I wear such magical clothes, I can tell who are stupid and who are incompetent." So he immediately gave the two swindlers a great deal of gold and asked them to start weaving at once.
The two swindlers set up two looms and pretended to be working, but there was not even a shadow of anything on their looms. They asked the king for the best silk and the purest gold, saying that these materials were needed for weaving. In fact, they pocketed all these things.
After a while, the king was very eager to know how the cloth was being woven, so he sent an old minister to have a look. When the old minister arrived at the swindlers' place, he saw the two swindlers busily working on the empty looms. The old minister stared wide - eyed but saw nothing. He thought to himself, "I see nothing! This is so dreadful. Am I a stupid person? I have never doubted myself. This must not be known to anyone." So he pretended to look carefully again and again, and then went back to report to the king, "The cloth is so beautiful. It is truly incomparable."
Other ministers also went to see one by one. Each of them, like the old minister, saw nothing but dared not tell the truth and all praised how beautiful the cloth was.
Finally, the swindlers said that the clothes were ready. The king went to try them on himself. He turned around in front of the mirror again and again. Actually, he was wearing nothing, but he didn't want to be regarded as a stupid person, so he went out to parade naked. The streets were lined with people on both sides. Everyone didn't want to be considered stupid, so they all praised the king's new clothes as extremely beautiful, with such magnificent colors and exquisite patterns.
Until a little child cried out, "But he is wearing no clothes at all!" At this time, the people began to whisper among themselves. The king shivered a little when he heard the child's words, but he still toughed it out and completed the parade ceremony.
This story tells us that we should be honest and brave, and not be like those hypocritical adults who lie for vanity.
