The Old Minister
official · human
Forty years of loyal service, excellent eyesight, and one afternoon that undoes the point of both.
What they are like
- Kind
- 7/10
- Brave
- 2/10
- Clever
- 8/10
- Honest
- 4/10
- Curious
- 4/10
- Patient
- 9/10
How we meet them
Being chosen. The emperor picks him because he is the one man in the empire whose judgement nobody would question, which is exactly why he cannot afford to use it.
Personality
Careful, dutiful and quietly proud of never having been found wanting. That pride is precisely the handle the weavers take hold of.
What they want
To keep being the man who has never been found wanting, for four more years, until he can stop.
How they change
Walks in as the most trusted man in the empire, sees an empty frame, and walks out having invented a pattern he can describe from memory.
How they speak
Two words at a time, and both of them borrowed. He answers the weavers by repeating the weavers, which is the sound of a clever man buying himself a few seconds.
How the story treats them
The emperor calls him honest, twice. The story never takes that back. He is honest. He is simply not brave, and the tale is careful about the difference.
One surprising thing
He listens to the weavers describe the pattern specifically so that he can repeat the description to the emperor later, and he does, and he gets it almost exactly right.
If they were real today
The person who has been at the company longest, nodding at a plan he could take apart in four minutes.
Things they say
- “The colours.”
- “And the pattern.”
Key moments
Excellent eyes
He looks at the loom for a long time. He can see the grain in the wood, the dust on the floor and two men moving their hands in the air, and he says nothing at all.
The colours
One weaver says the word colours. The old minister says the word colours back. It happens twice, and that is the entire negotiation.
“And the pattern.”
Reporting back
He tells the emperor it is the finest thing he has seen in forty years of service, and describes the pattern almost exactly right.
Who they know
The Emperorally
Forty years of trust, spent in a single afternoon, by both of them at once and neither of them out loud.
The Two Weaversadversary
A trap with only one exit, set by two men who never once raise their voices, and a very clever old man walking into it politely.
Personalised stories are coming soon
A brand new story with your child as the main character, illustrated on every page. We are not taking orders yet. Join the waitlist and we will email you when it opens.