Once upon a time, there was ___ vain and silly Emperor

who ruled ___ faraway land.

The Emperor loved ___ clothes more than anything else.

He ignored ___ duties of

ruling ___ country and

spent ___ most of his time

buying ___ new suits of clothes, trying them on,

and having ___ official parades where all

___ people could look at his clothes.

___ Emperor's vanity was known far and wide

across ___ land.

Two scoundrels from ___ distant town

heard about ___ silly Emperor and

made up ___ clever plan to fool him.

___ scoundrels

made ___ loom

from ___ wood and

went to ___ Emperor

pretending to be ___ weavers and tailors.

___ scoundrels

told ___ Emperor,

"We know ___ secret way

to make ___ magical, golden cloth

that is ___ most beautiful cloth ever created.

___ patterns are so intricate that they will amaze you.

And ___ fabric is as light

as ___ feather. But,

this incredible cloth is only visible to ___ people who are wise and worthy;

it is fit only for ___ rulers who are worthy of their office --

___ fools cannot even see this magical cloth.

If you like, Sire, we could weave you ___ magical cloth

and make you ___ suit of clothes

that is suitable for ___ man of your distinction.

It will take us ___ week.

___ Emperor said,

"Yes, of course I want ___ suit

made from ___ magical cloth. You must begin at once."

He immediately began planning ___ parade

to show off ___ new suit he would soon have.

Soon ___ whole town

was excited about ___ Emperor's new magical suit.

___ crooks gave

___ Emperor's men

___ list of supplies they would need,

including many chests full of ___ gold

and spools of ___ fine silk thread.

After ___ gold and silk arrived,

___ scoundrels set up their loom in

___ room in

___ castle and pretended to weave,

using ___ imaginary invisible thread.

After a few days, ___ Emperor sent his Prime Minister

to check on ___ progress

of ___ weavers.

___ Prime Minister

entered ___ room but

couldn't see ___ magical thread or magical fabric.

___ scoundrels were busy measuring and cutting

and sewing ___ invisible cloth.

___ Prime Minister was very upset about this,

and was afraid that he must be ___ fool and unworthy of his office

because he couldn't see ___ magical fabric.

When he reported back to ___ Emperor,

he lied and said that ___ magical fabric

had such ___ beautiful pattern that no words that could describe it

and that ___ colors were brighter than

___ rainbow.

___ Emperor was very happy and could hardly wait for his new suit.

In a few more days, ___ Emperor's new suit was finished.

___ Emperor and his men happily

entered ___ room.

Neither ___ Emperor nor his men

could see ___ magical clothing.

But ___ people was afraid to admit it because that would mean they were foolish and unworthy of their position.

So all ___ people said

that ___ clothes were beautiful and amazing,

even though no one could see ___ thing.

___ scoundrels told

___ Emperor to take off his clothes, and he did.

Then ___ crooks pretended to dress him in

___ magical clothes.

They carefully dressed ___ Emperor

in ___ invisible trousers, a shirt, and a cloak.

When they were done, each of ___ Emperor's men

said that ___ suit was magnificent,

and ___ Emperor in underwear nodded in agreement --

but ___ Emperor was only wearing his underwear!

___ Emperor and his men

left ___ castle and

walked through ___ town.

He was very proud of ___ new, magical suit.

At first, people gasped when they saw ___ nearly-naked Emperor

walking through ___ town in only his underwear.

Then they remembered that only ___ fools

couldn't see ___ magical clothes,

so they began cheering and telling ___ Emperor

that ___ clothes were absolutely amazing.

Suddenly, ___ small child

spoke ___ truth.

She pointed at ___ Emperor and said,

"___ Emperor is only wearing his underwear."

Everyone in ___ crowd gasped.

They knew it was true, and everyone cried out, "___ Emperor is only wearing his underwear."

___ Emperor turned red with embarrassment but he refused to admit that he had been fooled.

He continued with ___ silly parade and eventually

went back to ___ castle where he put on his real clothes.

He was angry with ___ men who

made ___ magical clothes and and asked to speak to them,

but they had disappeared and taken all ___ gold

and ___ silk with them.