✦ Story Summary ✦
The Emperor’s New Clothes
A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, 1837. This is a short summary, not the full text. Watch the read-aloud above to hear the whole story.
There was once an emperor who loved new clothes more than anything. Two swindlers came to town claiming they could weave the most beautiful cloth in the world, cloth with a magic quality: it was invisible to anyone who was foolish or not fit for his job.
The emperor paid them a fortune. They set up empty looms and pretended to work day and night. When the emperor’s ministers came to check, they saw nothing at all, but afraid of seeming foolish, they praised the colors and patterns. Even the emperor saw nothing, and he too pretended to admire it.
On the day of the great procession, the swindlers mimed dressing the emperor in his new suit, and he marched through the streets. The crowds cheered and admired the clothes, since no one wanted to seem foolish, until a little child called out, “But he hasn’t got anything on!” The whisper spread through the crowd. The emperor suspected they were right, but he held his head high and walked on to the end of the procession.