THERE once lived a vainglorious rich merchant who was so obsessed with clothes that they dominated his waking hours. He would change his clothes many times each day and admire himself in the full-length mirrors in his bedroom, often thinking: “I’m sure everyone loves my clothes, whose vibrant colours are not a pigment of the imagination!”

The rich merchant had an abiding love of mirrors. “They reflect without speaking,” he reasoned, “whereas some people I know speak without reflecting!”

A swindler who heard about the rich merchant’s sartorial preoccupation said to himself: “This is a golden opportunity for me to mulct him of a big sum of money.”

He arrived at the rich merchant’s mansion and said to his prospective victim: “I have discovered the secret of weaving magic cloth. The cloth is the finest to a wise man like you, but it is completely invisible to anyone who is too stupid to appreciate its fine quality.”

“If I have a suit made of such cloth,” the rich merchant thought, his eyes growing unconsciously brighter with excitement, “I’ll be able to categorise every person I meet as either stupid or wise.” And he gave the swindler a big bag of gold coins and asked him to start work on a new suit immediately.

The swindler smiled to himself, picturing how he would spend the money. After taking the rich merchant’s measurements, he said: “I face looming deadlines every day, but I will deliver the new clothes to you tomorrow week.”

“Excellent,” said the rich merchant. “I will wear them for my birthday party.”

A few days later, the rich merchant said to his clerk: “Find out from the tailor if he has completed my new suit.”

The clerk visited the swindler, who assured him: “The cloth is almost ready. Just feel the softness of the fabric!”

“I can’t see anything on the loom,” the clerk thought, and he could feel beads of perspiration breaking out on his forehead. “His whole story is a fabric-ation. What a twisted skein of lies! But I’d better not tell my boss the truth – I will lose my job if he thinks I’m stupid! I’ll just say to him, ‘Sew far, sew good – your new clothes will be delivered to you before –’”

“How short your coat is!” the swindler exclaimed, interrupting his guest’s train of thought. “Would you like to order a new one?”

“No, thank you,” said the clerk. “It will be long before I decide to get a new one.”

“Suit yourself.”

Finally, the new suit was ready. The swindler pretended to help the rich merchant dress in the invisible coat.

“If he is not so generous with his money,” the swindler thought, “I’d rather go to the kitchen and watch the salad dressing!”

“The coat is a beautiful fit,” said the brown-nosing clerk.

“Oh, it’s really nothing,” the rich merchant waved aside the compliment.

Of course, he couldn’t feel any clothes between his fingers, and he had some misgivings about wearing the new suit for his birthday party. But the thought that no one could know that he did not see any clothes somewhat comforted him.

It was bruited about that only the wise could see the rich merchant’s new clothes, so when the rich merchant walked in the buff at his birthday party, none of the guests said anything. Suddenly, a little boy cried out: “The rich merchant is not wearing any clothes!”

The naked truth of the boy’s off-the-cuff remark caused an uneasy silence in the hall, and then the guests chorused: “The child is right! The rich merchant is completely nude!”

An elderly guest said to his wife, “It is indeed suit-able for the rich merchant to be seen in his birthday suit – after all, it’s his birthday!”

“He is having an attack of clothestrophobia,” said the wife, but she knew her words didn’t ring true the moment she said them.

Realising that he had been tricked by the swindler, the rich merchant went as red as a beetroot. His legs found extra strength as they took him to his bedroom in double-quick time.

Many miles away, the swindler was in stitches as he sat down for a sumptuous meal at a rice-taurant. His eyes twinkled with pleasure as he thought: “That was easy – not even a clothes call!”

(Adapted from a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.)

• Survey: Britons love tea more than coffee
• New York City relies on automation technologies to face challenges of urbanisation
• Oil palm firms team up with Sabah to protect Malua Forest Reserve
• Powering the Big Apple
• Build robust cities
• Fun with words
• Rail marvel in New York
• Fun with synonyms
• Carnegie Hall gets green facelift
• Win The Good Food Cook Book!

Latest Jobs from Star-Jobs