The Naked King

[The7thSamurai]

Hope the title made you look. Anyway, I'm doing this activity where I have to fill in the blanks in the story 裸の王様 but a couple of sentences have stumped me.

Story so far, two tailors come to the town saying they can make the most beautiful garments. The kings asks that they make some garments for him which they agree to. Then there's this sentence:

仕立屋は、「私たちの作る服は誰にでも見えるという物ではありません。本当のおしゃれが分かる人にしか見えないのです。王様、大丈夫でしょうね！」と答えました。

The particles in bold are the ones that were blank and I had to guess. I hope I've got them right. However, 本当のおしゃれが分かる人にしか見えないのです is a bit confusing. Are they trying to say that only people who understand true fashion can see the clothes? I.e., if a person doesn't understand true fashion they won't be able to see the clothes?

The next part goes like this:

"The truth was that these two tailors could not make garments. In actual fact, they were rats. そうとは知らない王様は、「このわし(a)分からないおしゃれ(b)ある(c)。今すぐ、洋服を作ってくれ。」と命令しました。

(a) に、は、を
(b) とか、なんか、や
(c) ものか、もんだ、かしら

To be honest, I really have no idea here Any ideas?

 

[Mike Cash]

"shika" is sort of like "dake", but it is always followed by something in negative form "mienai". They are sometimes used in conjunction for emphasis. (分かる人だけにしか見えない).

に
なんか
かしら

 

[The7thSamurai]

Yeah I've learnt しか but I didn't know you could say だけにしか. Thanks for the answers too, any chance I could get a bit of an explanation for the なんか and かしら answers? I thought かしら was only used in feminine speech.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

に
なんか
かしら

I disagree with the last one. I don't think that a king would speak like a woman. I would go with ものか.

 

[Elizabeth]

Hope the title made you look. Anyway, I'm doing this activity where I have to fill in the blanks in the story 裸の王様 but a couple of sentences have stumped me.

Story so far, two tailors come to the town saying they can make the most beautiful garments. The kings asks that they make some garments for him which they agree to. Then there's this sentence:

仕立屋は、「私たちの作る服は誰にでも見えるという物ではありません。本当のおしゃれが分かる人にしか見えないのです。王様、大丈夫でしょうね！」と答えました。

The particles in bold are the ones that were blank and I had to guess. I hope I've got them right. However, 本当のおしゃれが分かる人にしか見えないのです is a bit confusing. Are they trying to say that only people who understand true fashion can see the clothes? I.e., if a person doesn't understand true fashion they won't be able to see the clothes?

The next part goes like this:

"The truth was that these two tailors could not make garments. In actual fact, they were rats. そうとは知らない王様は、「このわし(a)分からないおしゃれ(b)ある(c)。今すぐ、洋服を作ってくれ。」と命令しました。

(a) に、は、を
(b) とか、なんか、や
(c) ものか、もんだ、かしら

To be honest, I really have no idea here Any ideas?

Firstly, what is このわし referring to ? By that eagle ??? My first reaction was "I" but I've never encountered it in that context, behind "kono" and in front of "ni" before.

 

[The7thSamurai]

このわし is new to me too. But in the sentence before he referres to himself as わし, so I assume it's a self reference.

 

[undrentide]

このわし is new to me too. But in the sentence before he refers to himself as わし, so I assume it's a self reference.

Your interpretation is correct.
この here emphasise わし.

 

[Elizabeth]

このわし is new to me too. But in the sentence before he referres to himself as わし, so I assume it's a self reference.

かしら has traditionally been used by men in certain dialects. Particularly 関西。 Even restricted to women in standard Japanese, though, it has gone out of fashion in recent years as differences between male and female speech have tended to become much less obvious.

What the king does and doesn't know about these tailors and their methods in the storyline presented is confusing to me as well. If all he is asking is rhetorically "Do I not understand things like fashion???" than 物か looks good.

 

[undrentide]

While I agree that かしら is not always feminine, the king in this famous story is so arrogantly confident that he know everything and of course he can tell all the difference.
In this context かしら which express some doubts does not fit in.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Incidentally, this story is known in English by "The Emporer's New Clothes"

 

[Elizabeth]

Incidentally, this story is known in English by "The Emporer's New Clothes"

Thanks for the clarification ! Many details have apparently been altered considerably, but I was wondering if this wasn't the Japanized version...

 

[undrentide]

Incidentally, this story is known in English by "The Emporer's New Clothes"

did not know that the original and English version is "Emperor"... thank you for the information! (It was translated to 王様 to avoid having the word emperor taken as 天皇, according to Wiki...)

Though in Japan the story is know as one of the Andersen's fables, it originally came from Spain according to Wikipedia.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A3%...8E%8B%E6%A7%9
Sorry for getting off-topic!

 

[The7thSamurai]

Ok, so, about those answers...?

"The truth was that these two tailors could not make garments. In actual fact, they were rats. そうとは知らない王様は、「このわし(a)分からないおあｵゃれ(b)ある(c)。今すぐ、洋服を作ってくれ 。」と命令しました。

(a) = に
(b) = なんか (I still can't understand why)
(c) ものか (nor this)

 

[undrentide]

"The truth was that these two tailors could not make garments. In actual fact, they were rats. そうとは知らない王様は、「このわし(a)分からないおあｵゃれ(b)ある(c)。今すぐ、洋服を作ってくれ 。」と命令しました。

(a) = に
(b) = なんか (I still can't understand why)
(c) ものか (nor this)

なんか is similar to など, picking up something (among many), sometimes just as example, sometimes with some feelings.
In this context なんか add some scorn. There couldn't be such a thing.

ものか can express strong negation. In speech, more colloquial version もんか is often used.
e.g.
こんな難しい問題、おまえなんかにできるもんか。（＝ できるはずがない）

 

[Damicci]

Yeah but what about にしか？ I was reading the question and wanted to answer but I also have never seen にしか did a search for the contsruction in google and only found 3 million hits. most showing きみにしか。。。。。

 

[Elizabeth]

Y
Yeah but what about にしか？ I was reading the question and wanted to answer but I also have never seen にしか did a search for the construction in google and only found 3 million hits. most showing きみにしか。。。。。

は、が、を are usually admitted with しか but other particles can precede it so there's nothing amiss with に
（友達にしか言いませんでした）。。。