minister went forward rubbing his eyes; but he could see nothing,
for there was nothing there.

'Dear, dear!' thought he, 'can I be stupid? I have never thought
that, and nobody must know it! Can I be not fit for my office?
No, I must certainly not say that I cannot see the cloth!'

'Have you nothing to say about it?' asked one of the men who was
weaving.

'Oh, it is lovely, most lovely!' answered the old minister,
looking through his spectacles. 'What a texture! What colours!
Yes, I will tell the Emperor that it pleases me very much.'

'Now we are delighted at that,' said both the weavers, and
thereupon they named the colours and explained the make of the
texture.

The old minister paid great attention, so that he could tell the
same to the Emperor when he came back to him, which he did.

The impostors now wanted more money, more silk, and more gold to
use in their weaving. They put it all in their own pockets, and
there came no threads on the loom, but they went on as they had
done before, working at the empty loom. The Emperor soon sent
another worthy statesman to see how the weaving was getting on,
and whether the cloth would soon be finished. It was the same
with him as the first one; he looked and looked, but because
there was nothing on the empty loom he could see nothing.