Story The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Many years ago there was an emperor so fond of new clothes that he spent all his income on dressing with the utmost elegance.
He was not interested in his soldiers, nor was he attracted to the theater, nor did he like to ride in a car through the forest, unless it was to show off his new suits.
He had a different dress for each hour of the day and, in the same way that it is said about a king who is in the palace, it was always said about him:
– The emperor is in the closet.
The big city in which he lived was full of entertainment and was visited daily by numerous tourists.
One day, two scoundrels showed up, posing as weavers, claiming that they knew how to weave the most wonderful fabrics imaginable. Not only were the colors and drawings of unusual beauty, but the garments made with them had the miraculous virtue of becoming invisible to all those who were not worthy of their position or who were hopelessly stupid.
“They must be magnificent dresses,” thought the emperor. «If I took them, I could find out which officials of the kingdom are unworthy of the position they hold. I could tell the smart ones from the fools. Yes, I must immediately have a suit made for me.
With the decision made, he gave a lot of money to the scammers so that they could begin their work.
The fake weavers set up two looms and pretended to be working on them, even though they were completely empty. Furthermore, they urgently demanded the finest silks and the best quality gold thread. They put everything in their saddlebags and worked on the empty looms until late at night.
“I would like to know what progress they have made with the fabric,” the emperor thought, but he was a little confused inside when he thought that anyone who was stupid or unworthy of his position would not be able to see what they were weaving. It’s not that he had any doubts about himself; But, just in case, he preferred to send someone else first to see how things were going. All the inhabitants of the city were informed of the particular virtue of that cloth and everyone was eager to see how stupid or useless their neighbor was.
“I will send my old minister to visit the weavers,” thought the emperor. “He is an honest man and the best person to see if the work is progressing, because he has good judgment and there is no one who performs the job like him.”
The old and worthy minister appeared, therefore, in the room occupied by the two rogues, who were still working at the empty looms.
“God preserve me!” thought the old minister, opening his eyes wide. “I see nothing!”. However, he was careful not to say so.
The two scammers asked him to come closer and asked him if he didn’t find the color and design beautiful. As they said it, they pointed to the empty loom. The poor minister continued with his eyes wide open, but without seeing anything since there was nothing.
“My God!” he thought. «Am I perhaps stupid? He would never have believed it and no one has to know. Is it possible that it is useless for the job? “I must not tell anyone that I have not seen the fabric,” he continued with his rather nervous thoughts.
-That? You don’t say anything about the fabric? -asked one of the rogues.
-Oh! It’s beautiful, wonderful! -answered the old minister looking through his glasses-. What drawings and what colors! Of course, I will tell the emperor that I found him extraordinary.
– How pleased we are! – exclaimed the weavers, giving him the names of the colors and describing the strange drawing.
The old minister was careful to keep the explanations in his memory so he could repeat them to the emperor and he did so. The swindlers again asked for more money, more silk and more gold, since they needed it to continue weaving. They stored everything in their saddlebags again, as not a single thread was used on the loom, and they continued working on the empty loom.
Shortly after, the emperor sent another trusted official to inspect the state of the fabric and find out if the suit would be ready soon. What happened to the second happened to the first: he looked and looked, but since there was nothing on the loom, he could see nothing.
– Beautiful fabric, right? – asked the two cheaters, pointing and explaining the beautiful drawing that did not exist.
“I’m not stupid,” thought the official. «Then, will it be my high position that I do not deserve? What a strange thing! “In any case, no one must notice.”
So he praised the fabric that he did not see and expressed his satisfaction with those beautiful colors and that beautiful drawing.
“It is worthy of admiration!” the official informed the emperor.
Everyone in the city talked about the splendid fabric, so much so that the emperor himself wanted to see it before it was taken off the loom.
Followed by a crowd of distinguished characters, among whom were the two old and good officials who had gone before, he headed to the room where the rogues were, who continued busily weaving, although without a strand of thread.
– Isn’t it admirable? -asked the two honest officials. “Look at these colors and these drawings, your majesty,” they continued while pointing to the empty loom, believing that the others could see the fabric perfectly.
“What is this?” thought the emperor. “I do not see anything! This is terrible! Am I being stupid? Don’t I deserve to be emperor? It would be frightening if it were like that! », the monarch continued with his thoughts.
“She is beautiful!” the emperor said out loud. “She has my real approval,” he declared and, with a gesture of pleasure, looking at the empty loom, without saying a word that he didn’t see anything at all.
Everyone in the entourage looked, but none of them saw anything at all; However, they exclaimed, like the emperor:
– Oh, she is beautiful!
Furthermore, they advised him to make a suit with that new and wonderful fabric to wear for the first time in the procession that was to be held soon.
–She is beautiful, very elegant, wonderful!- spread from mouth to mouth and everyone was enthusiastic about her.
The emperor granted each of the two scoundrels a knight’s cross to wear in their buttonholes and named them knight weavers.
During the entire night that preceded the day of the festival, the two tricksters were up with more than sixteen lamps lit. People could see that they were actively working on making the emperor’s new suit. They pretended to remove the fabric from the loom, they cut the air with large scissors and sewed with a needle without a thread until they finally shouted:
– Look, the suit is ready!
The emperor arrived in the company of his most distinguished knights and the scoundrels, raising their arms as if they were holding something, said:
– These are the pants! The jacket! The mantle!…-. And so they named all the pieces of the suit. The clothes are light as if they were a spider web. It would seem that it is as if you were not wearing anything on your body, but this is precisely the good thing about the fabric.
– Indeed! – all the courtiers agreed, without seeing anything, because there was nothing.
–Does your majesty want to deign to take off the suit you are wearing so that we can try on the new dresses in front of the large mirror? – asked the two rascals.
The emperor took off all his clothes and the rogues pretended to hand him the various pieces of the new dress. Then, they pretended to tie something to the emperor’s waist: it was the tail. For his part, the monarch moved and swayed before the mirror.
– God, how good it suits you, it’s going wonderfully! -they all exclaimed-. What drawings! What color is! It’s a beautiful suit!
“The canopy for the procession is already waiting for you on the street, Your Majesty,” the master of ceremony announced.
“Yes, I am ready!” the emperor said emphatically. “Doesn’t it look good on me?” He asked no one in particular and, again, looked at himself in the mirror, pretending to be looking at his clothes.
The chamberlains in charge of carrying the queue lowered their hands to the ground as if to lift it and continued with their hands raised as if they were holding something in the air. For nothing in the world would they have confessed that they saw nothing!
In this way, the emperor marched in the procession under the splendid canopy, while all the people in the street and at the windows exclaimed:
– How beautiful is the emperor’s new suit! What a magnificent tail! How good it suits you! -. No one allowed others to notice that they saw nothing, because that would have meant that they were unworthy of their position or that they were complete fools. In this way, no emperor’s costume had been as successful as that one.
– But he doesn’t have anything! -a child suddenly exclaimed.
– My God! “Listen to the voice of innocence!” His father asked and everyone began to whisper about what the little boy had just said.
– But he’s not wearing anything! It’s a child who says he’s not wearing anything!
– He’s not wearing a suit! -the whole town finally shouted.
That worried the emperor because he thought that the people were right, but he said to himself: “We must continue in the procession until the end.”
Even with greater arrogance than before, he continued his parade with the chamberlains carrying the non-existent train.
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The story of The emperor’s new suit is a Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. It is part of the book Fairy tales told for children which was published by this author in 1837 along with other fairy tales for children. The story has been adapted to different media, including musicals and animated films.
The story is about an emperor who was excessively worried about his wardrobe. Then one day he hires two con artists who promise to make him a suit with the softest, most delicate fabric he can imagine; but there is something else about this cloth: the scammers warned the emperor that this cloth was so special that it was invisible to anyone stupid for his position. While the scammers made them work on said suit, they asked for materials that they then kept for their own benefit. Once the swindlers announced that they had finished the suit, the emperor sent several of his men to look at it. They did not see any costume, but they pretended to see it for fear of being judged stupid. The emperor, seeing this, also pretended that he could see the suit. The scammers made the emperor believe that they were dressing him in the new suit so that the emperor could attend a parade before his subjects. All the people in the town had heard about the famous suit created with fabric invisible to the eyes of the inept and were eager to come and see who among them was not able to see said suit. When the parade arrived and the emperor appeared, the entire town pretended they could see the famous costume, until a child announced that the emperor was…