The Emperor's New Clothes - Bedtime Stories for Kids

"The Emperor's New Clothes" is another famous fairy tale by the Danish author- Hans Christian Andersen. "The Emperor's New Clothes" was first published together with "The Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen, by C. A. Reitzel, on 7 April 1837 as the third and final tale of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children.

"The Emperor's New Clothes" has been adapted to various media, from movies, cartoons to operas and plays. The name of the tale and its variation, “the Emperor has no clothes,” has become an idiom.“The Emperor’s New Clothes” has been translated into more than 100 different languages.

The tale tells us of two tricksters who come to the city of an Emperor who spends a lot of money on luxury and fancy clothes rather than his kingdom’s matters. They pretend to be weavers and offer to sell to the King magnificent clothes which will become invisible to people who are stupid or foolish.

The King is so excited and employs them to weave these clothes. Many officials and even the King himself goes to their workshop to check the weaving progress. Even though they see that the looms are empty, they pretend there is a real cloth because they are afraid of being said to be a fool.

When the two deceivers inform the Emperor that his suit is finished, he is excited to try it on and decides to go on a grand parade around his capital city. Everybody realizes that the Emperor is wearing nothing, but they dissemble that Emperor is wearing beautiful clothes because they do not want to be considered inept or stupid. Until a child speaks loudly that the emperor is not wearing anything. Although startled, the emperor continues the procession and walks in pride more than ever.

The phrase “Emperor’s new clothes” is used as an idiom to indicate logical fallacies. And the key message of the tale is: the truth is not something widely accepted and praised by the majority of people.