THERE WAS ONCE AN EMPEROR who was very fond of himself and who was obsessed with his appearance to the point of always buying new clothes. He even had different suits for each day of the week and for each hour so as to never be seen with the same. To satisfy his expensive tastes, he taxed his loyal subjects and forced his soldiers to collect this very special tax which he called "Emperor's Clothes Tax" every first of the month. Furthermore, he avoided public appearances so as to avoid enraging the poor peasants with his expensive dresses, preferring to display them in front of the Palace's nobles. His fame had spread till the ends of the world.

One day, however, two renowned tailors, who were rumored to be capable of making clothes with the finest materials on earth, happened to visit him from distant Persia. The Emperor became so impressed that he summoned them in his Throne room, where they explained that the clothes coming out of their loom are made of a silk so fine that only those worthy can see it. "It must be a very fine texture indeed", the Emperor thought.

And so, the two tailors locked themselves in the Palace and worked day and night, only to open their mouths when the time came to ask for more needle and thread. At some point the Emperor got impatient, and sent his most loyal minister to oversee them. His minister, however, who kept peeping through the door's keyhole, saw nothing on the loom: the two tailors stitched and mended but with no fabric, at times even pretending to be examining the work they had already finished and at other times gathering the invisible silk pieces that had fallen on the floor. The loyal minister was hesitant at first, yet when he showed up in front of the Emperor, he gathered all his courage and spoke with perfect honesty, explaining to him that they were frauds.

"He's unworthy, that's why he cannot see the dress. And I thought so high of him that I made him my minister...", the Emperor thought and ordered the guards to put him to prison.

So the tailors continued working day and night. The whole Palace was upset, and the Emperor thought it was time to send someone to oversee their work. "He must be someone worthy", the Emperor thought and chose his mother. She then visited the tailor's room, only to be amazed at the same weird spectacle: the tailors were working day and night non-stop, but the dress was nowhere to be seen on the loom. When she reported it to her son, he got enraged. "My mother is definitely loyal to me, but is she really worthy of seeing the fabric?", he wondered.

He then thought of sending the Bishop, who would be a perfect choice as he was definitely worthy before God. The Bishop, however, being more cunning than the others and having learned about the minister's fate, visited the tailors and started questioning them. He even asked to oversee the making of the dress, which would last months as it turned out, until it was indeed complete. To the Emperor, however, he reported that the dress was beautiful, a splendid sight that would make him shine in front of any other King.

"One sees a different dress each time, based on his own worth before the Almighty. As soon as the tailors finish the dress, you will never have to buy new clothes, your Majesty", he told the Emperor. "But would it be better to give away all your old clothes to the poor of the Kingdom then?"

The Emperor was persuaded, and so the day they handed over the dress to him, he gave away all his old clothes to his subjects. With the Bishop leading them, the soldiers gathered them in big boxes and handed them over to the poor people of the Kingdom, based on each one's need and lack. The peasants were amazed by the Emperor's unexpected moving, as until that moment the only thing they thought him capable of was putting more and more taxes on their shoulders.

Back in the Palace, the Emperor wore his brand-new invisible suite and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "What a sight!", the Bishop flattered him, and the two tailors agreed as they explained the hard work behind it. "Maybe I'm unworthy like my mother", the Emperor thought, seeing himself naked in the mirror. "But this must come to no one's attention".

"A simple walk in front of your subjects will seal this success", the Bishop suggested, and the Emperor agreed. The two tailors even held the tail of the dress so as to avoid having someone accidentally step on it and fall. A huge crowd of peasants, all dressed up in fine clothes that the Emperor had given away that morning, waited for them to show up. He then paraded naked, with the royal army, the Bishop and the two tailors right beside him. The peasants were astonished at the sight on one hand and curious on the other as to the meaning of all this and the expensive gift they had received.

The Emperor and his following kept striding with pride till the city square, where the Bishop took initiative and gave the following speech: "He that hath two coats should give the spare one away, said our Lord. Our good Emperor is so God-loving, however, that he decided to give away all his clothes, making no exception, and to abolish the 'Emperor's Clothes Tax' that is burdening your shoulders!". The peasants then burst into applause, their feelings shifting from hate to love with only a few words. In the end, they declared him the most beloved King of all times. The Emperor got so ashamed with his misfortune that decided never to buy expensive clothes again in his life.

So, they all took their lesson by the cunning Bishop, who realized early on what the sly tailors were up to, but instead of fighting them in public, he used them for public good.