ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES

By Hans Christian Andersen

CONTENTS

The Emperor's New Clothes
The Swineherd
The Real Princess
The Shoes of Fortune
The Fir Tree
The Snow Queen
The Leap-Frog
The Elderbush
The Bell
The Old House
The Happy Family
The Story of a Mother
The False Collar
The Shadow
The Little Match Girl
The Dream of Little Tuk
The Naughty Boy
The Red Shoes

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

Long ago, there was an Emperor. He loved new clothes. He loved them very much.
He spent all his money on clothes.
He did not care about his soldiers.
He did not care about plays or hunting.
He only liked showing off his new clothes.

He had a new suit for every hour of the day.
People say "the king is in a meeting."
But people said, "The Emperor is in his closet!"

The big city was his home. It was a happy place.
New people came to the city every day.
One day, two tricky men came to town.
They said they were weavers. Weavers make cloth.
They said their cloth was very special.
It had beautiful colors and patterns.
They said the clothes made from it had a magic power.
Silly people could not see the clothes.
People who were bad at their jobs could not see the clothes either.

"Those must be wonderful clothes!" thought the Emperor.
"If I had a suit like that, I could find out who is silly.
I could find out who is smart too.
I must have this cloth right away!"

He gave the two men lots of money.
He told them to start weaving at once.

The two tricky men set up two looms.
A loom is a machine for weaving cloth.
They looked very busy. But they did nothing at all!
They asked for fine silk. They asked for gold thread.
They put the silk and gold in their own bags.
Then they kept pretending to work at the empty looms.
They worked late into the night.

"I want to know how the cloth is coming along," said the Emperor to himself.
But he felt a little worried.
A foolish person could not see the cloth.
He was sure he was not foolish.
But he thought, "I will send someone else first."

All the people in the city had heard about the special cloth.
Everyone wanted to know who was wise and who was not.

"I will send my old, trusted minister," said the Emperor.
A minister is a helper to a king.
"He can see how the cloth looks. He is a smart man."

So the old minister went to see the weavers.
The tricky men were working hard at their empty looms.
"What is this?" thought the old man. His eyes opened wide.
"I cannot see any thread at all!"
But he did not say this out loud.

The tricky men asked him to come closer.
They asked if he liked the pattern.
They asked if he liked the colors.
They pointed at the empty looms.

The poor old minister looked and looked.
He could not see anything on the looms.
There was nothing there!

"Am I foolish?" he thought. "I never thought so before.
No one must know if I am.
Maybe I am not fit for my job? No! I will not say that.
I will never say I cannot see the cloth."

"Well, sir," said one of the tricky men. "You do not say if you like the cloth."

"Oh, it is wonderful!" said the old minister.
"This pattern and these colors! I will tell the Emperor how beautiful they are."

"Thank you," said the tricky men.
They named colors. They talked about the pattern.
The old minister listened closely.
He wanted to remember it all for the Emperor.

The tricky men asked for more silk and gold.
They said they needed it to finish the cloth.
But they put it all in their bags again!
They kept pretending to work at the empty looms.

The Emperor sent another helper to check on the weavers.
This man looked at the looms too.
He also saw nothing but empty frames.

"Doesn't the cloth look as beautiful as the minister said?" asked the tricky men.
They pointed at nothing again. They talked about colors that were not there.

"I am surely not silly!" thought this man.
"Maybe I am not good at my job! That would be bad.
No one will know about this."

So he praised the cloth he could not see.
He said the colors and patterns were lovely.
"The cloth is amazing," he told the Emperor.

Soon the whole city was talking about the wonderful cloth.

Now the Emperor wanted to see it himself.
He took some of his helpers with him.
The two helpers who had already praised the cloth came too.

The tricky men saw the Emperor coming.
They worked even harder — but still with no thread at all!

"Is this not amazing?" said the two helpers.
"Look at this pattern! Look at these colors!"
They pointed at the empty looms.
They thought everyone else could see the cloth too.

"What is this?" thought the Emperor. "I see nothing!
This is terrible! Am I silly? Am I not fit to be Emperor?
That would be the worst thing ever."

"Oh! The cloth is lovely," he said out loud.
"I like it very much."
He smiled and looked closely at the empty looms.
He did not want to say he could not see what his helpers loved so much.

All the other people with him looked hard too.
They saw nothing, just like the others.
But they all said, "Oh, how beautiful!"
They told the Emperor to make new clothes from this cloth.
He could wear them in the big parade!

"Wonderful! Lovely! Perfect!" everyone said.
Everyone felt very happy.
The Emperor gave the tricky men a special badge.
He called them "Royal Weavers."

The night before the parade, the tricky men stayed up all night.
They lit sixteen candles.
They wanted everyone to see how hard they worked.
They pretended to take the cloth off the looms.
They cut the air with scissors.
They sewed with needles — but there was no thread!

"Look!" they said at last. "The Emperor's new clothes are ready!"

The Emperor came with all his important helpers.
The tricky men lifted their arms, like they were holding something up.

"Here are the pants!" they said. "Here is the scarf! Here is the coat!
The whole suit is as light as a spider's web.
You will feel like you are wearing nothing at all.
That is what makes this cloth so special."

"Yes, indeed!" said all the helpers.
But not one of them could see anything at all.

"Will you take off your clothes, Your Majesty?
We will put on your new suit by the mirror."

So the Emperor took off his clothes.
The tricky men pretended to dress him in the new suit.
The Emperor turned this way and that in front of the mirror.

"How wonderful he looks!" everyone said. "The clothes fit perfectly!
What colors! What patterns! These are truly royal clothes!"

"Your Majesty, the parade is ready," said the head helper.

"I am ready too," said the Emperor.
"Do my new clothes look nice?" he asked, turning again in front of the mirror.

The helpers who were to carry his long train reached down to the ground.
They pretended to lift up the ends of his coat.
They did not want anyone to think they were foolish either.

So the Emperor walked under a grand cover through the streets.
Everyone watched. Everyone stood at their windows.

"Oh! How beautiful are the Emperor's new clothes!" they all said.
"Look at his long train! Look at his lovely scarf!"
No one wanted to say they could not see the clothes.
That would mean they were silly, or bad at their jobs.
No suit the Emperor ever wore had been admired so much!

But then, a little child spoke up.
"The Emperor has nothing on at all!" said the child.

"Listen to what the child said!" said the child's father.
Soon everyone was whispering the same thing.

"He has nothing on at all!" the people began to shout.

The Emperor felt very upset.
He knew the people were right!
But he thought, "The parade must go on."
So he walked on, holding his head high.
And his helpers kept pretending to hold up a train —
even though there was no train there at all.

THE SWINEHERD

Once there was a poor Prince.
He had a kingdom.
His kingdom was very small.
But it was big enough to get married.
And he wanted to get married.

It was bold of him to ask the Emperor's daughter, "Will you marry me?"
But he did ask her!
His name was known far and wide.
A hundred princesses would have said, "Yes! Thank you!"
But let's see what this princess said.

Listen!

Where the Prince's father was buried, a rose tree grew.
It was a beautiful rose tree.
It only bloomed once every five years.
And even then, it grew only one flower.
But oh, what a rose it was!
It smelled so sweet that all worries and sadness went away
for anyone who smelled it.

The Prince also had a nightingale.
A nightingale is a small bird that sings beautifully.
This nightingale could sing songs so sweet,
it seemed like every lovely tune lived in her little throat.

So the Prince sent the rose and the nightingale to the Princess.
He put them in big silver boxes and sent them to her.

The Emperor had them brought...