The Emperor's New Clothes

A Vain Emperor

Once upon a time, there was an Emperor who loved clothes. He loved them more than anything else in the whole world.

He had a coat for the morning and a coat for lunch. He had a coat for the afternoon and a coat for tea. He changed his clothes again and again, all day long!

He did not care much about his city or his people. He only cared about looking grand.

Two Tricky Men

One day, two tricky men came to the city. They were not real tailors. They were sneaky and clever.

"Your Majesty," they said with a bow, "we can make you the most magic cloth in the world. It is so special that only clever people can see it. Silly people cannot see it at all!"

The Emperor's eyes went wide. "Make me clothes from this magic cloth at once!" he said. "Then I will know who is clever and who is silly."

He gave the men gold, silk and thread. They set up two big looms and pretended to work. Click, clack, click, clack went the empty looms. But of course, there was no cloth at all. They just put the gold in their own pockets!

Can You See It?

The Emperor wanted to check on the cloth. But he was afraid. What if I cannot see it? he thought. Everyone will think I am silly!

So he sent his oldest, wisest helper instead.

The helper looked at the empty looms. He saw... nothing! Just air! But he did not want to seem silly. So he said, "Oh, how beautiful! What lovely colours!"

The tricky men smiled. They had fooled him.

Soon everyone in the city had heard about the magic cloth. Nobody wanted to be the silly one. So they all said it was the most beautiful cloth in the world — even though not one of them could see a single thread.

The Big Parade

At last, the men said the clothes were ready. They pretended to dress the Emperor.

"Here is your shirt," they said, holding up nothing. "And here is your fine cloak!"

The Emperor stood in front of the mirror. He saw himself in his underwear. But he did not want to seem silly either! So he smiled and said, "Wonderful! What a fine suit!"

There was a grand parade. The Emperor walked through the streets in nothing but his underwear, holding his head up high. And all the people clapped and cheered.

"What lovely clothes!" they cried. "What beautiful colours!" — even though they saw nothing at all.

"He Has No Clothes!"

Then a little child, sitting on her father's shoulders, looked at the Emperor. She said in a loud, clear voice:

"But he isn't wearing any clothes!"

The people went quiet. Then someone whispered, "The child is right." And someone else said it too. Soon the whole crowd was saying it: "The Emperor has no clothes!"

The Emperor's face went red as a tomato. He knew the child was right. He had been tricked! And so had everybody else, because they were all too scared to say the simple truth.

The Emperor wrapped his arms around himself and hurried home as fast as he could. And the two tricky men? They had already run far, far away with their bag of gold.

A Lesson Learned

From that day on, the Emperor was not quite so proud. And he learned something important from a little child:

It is always, always best to tell the truth — even when everyone else is pretending.

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The moral: Always tell the truth, and never pretend just because other people do.

Want more read-along tales? Try The Tortoise and the Hare or The Lion and the Mouse next.