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Extra Reading "The Emperors New Suit"


There once was an emperor who believed that the clothes that he wore were the greatest source of popularity. He held his fashion in the highest regard. This leader didn't care about what he ate, or how he ruled, or anything that didn't pertain to his clothing. This emperor had a different outfit for each hour of the day. Everyone in his kingdom knew that this emperor always wore the most expensive threads.

One day two swindlers came into town. They heard all of the townsfolk talk about the emperor and his beautiful clothes so they developed an idea to swindle the emperor out of his fortune. These two swindlers took two looms and started to tell the townsfolk that they were the weavers of the greatest garbs in all of the land. They have sewn for kings and queens all across the land and now they have come to this kingdom to sew for the emperor.

The emperor caught wind of this and demanded that they come to sew him the finest clothes at once. These swindlers were in the business of making a joke so when they met the emperor they told him the great thing about their clothes. They said, "Our clothes are so noble that they can only be seen by those who are worthy to hold their position." The emperor didn't want to seem like he was nervous so he went on believing them to look as noble as possible.

The swindlers worked as hard as they could pretend to weave pretend string into a pretend robe. Every so often they would ask for more gold yarn and silver string to put into their robe. The emperor was getting impatient so he sent his most trustworthy servant to go check in on the work of the two men. The servent went but to his surprise, he saw nothing in the loom. The two men asked him, "Doesn't it look beautiful?" and "We cant wait until the emperor sees the final product." The servent was so embarrassed that he couldn't see the clothes they were making, he thought to himself "If I go back and tell the emperor that I couldn't see anything he will say I am unfit to serve in my position and he will fire me." So the servant told the men that the clothes were beautiful and he then scurried off to the king. He told the king that the clothes looked great then scurried back to his station.

The king did this same test with all of his servants, each time when they would report the good news the king's anticipation would build. Then came the time when the king was presented with his clothes. The swindlers held up what looked like nothing to the emperor and he became so nervous. He thought to himself, "This must mean I am unfit to serve." But, his pride got the best of him and he decided to lie, just like all of his previous servants and say that he saw the clothes.

The swindler's plan had worked and now they had convinced the emperor along with each of his guards that the emperor's clothes were real, they just couldn't see them. The swindlers suggested that the emperor go on a parade to show off his new threads and being the prideful man he was he did not deny the parade. So that's just what they did, the emperor and his servants went out on a parade to show the town his new clothes, then when the whole town laughed at his nakedness the emperor merely scoffed and said: "They must not be fit to be townspeople."

Bibliography: This story is part of the Andersen Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).
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