A gentle retelling for listeners ages 3–5 of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale: two tricksters sell a proud emperor magic cloth that foolish people cannot see, the whole court pretends to admire it, and only a little child in the parade crowd says what everyone can see.
Read first 4 pagesThe opening of The Emperor’s New Clothes: A Gentle Retelling, free to read.
Long ago there lived an emperor who loved new clothes more than anything. He had a different suit for each hour of the day. People never said, “The emperor is at work.” They said, “The emperor is in his wardrobe, trying on clothes!”
One day two tricksters arrived at court. They boasted of weaving magic cloth. “Anyone who is no good at his job, or who is very foolish, cannot see it at all!” they said.
“What splendid clothes!” thought the emperor. “With clothes like that, I could find out who is wise and who is foolish!” He gave the tricksters a big bag of gold to begin at once.
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