Today is my brother’s birthday (Happy Birthday my dude!) so in honor of him I asked him what his favorite fairy tale was so I could do a fairy tale spotlight. Turns out, I was a bit surprised by his answer.
My brother isn’t as big into fairy tales as I am, but he grew up on a lot of the same ones I did (I mean, we shared the same books in the house, so of course he did). I was kind of expecting maybe a darker tale, or an adventurous tale, Jack the Giant-Killer maybe. Instead, he replied with a funny tale – “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
This tale by Hans Christian Andersen is perhaps one of his more well known, even if it isn’t actually that widely read. It’s certainly not as famous as his story about a little mermaid, or more recently his Ice Queen story, but most people seem to recognize that they’ve heard a story about a foolish king walking around without any clothes from somewhere. Like in children’s books…or political cartoons.
But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
The story opens by telling us about a very vain and incompetent king, who prefers to spend his days showing off his hundreds of new outfits. This king apparently changes clothes every hour, and spends more time in his dressing room than he does in court or actually attending to his duties.
Cue the swindlers, the trickster heroes my brother likes so much. The trickster “weavers” arrive in town and begin spreading rumors that they can weave a fine cloth imbued with magical powers that makes it so that anyone who is stupid or unfit for their position thinks the material is invisible.
Obviously the king wants this magical fabric as part of his rich wardrobe, so he pays the tailors in fine silks and gold to make this fabric for him. They set up their looms in the palace and pretend to weave, but in reality they’re hiding away all their riches and weaving nothing.
After a couple days, the king sends an old minister whom he trusts to check in on the progress. The swindling tailors ask the minister how he likes the colors and patterns, asking if they’re not amazing or beautiful, but the minister can’t see anything. Rather than out himself as being foolish or unfit for his position, he agrees that the colors and patterns are gorgeous, and listens carefully as the tailors describe what they can “see” so he can relay the information back to the king when he goes back to praise the work of the tailors.
This happens again with another man of the court, and finally the king himself visits. The tailors obviously have nothing on their looms, but everyone is too worried they’re secretly stupid or unfit for their position, so they keep pretending to see beautiful colors and fine fabric. Even the king, fearing that everyone will think he shouldn’t be king, praises what he can’t see. He gives the tailors more silks and gold to transform the fabric into an outfit for him to wear during a procession.
By this time, the rumors have filled the streets, and everyone in town is eager to see the procession of the king in his magical outfit. They want to know who among their neighbors is foolish. When the day comes for the king to try on his outfit, the swindlers assure him that the fabric is so fine it will feel as though it isn’t even there, and ask him to undress so they can help him into the clothes. They even give him a special train, which two noblemen pretend to hold aloft because they don’t want to admit they can’t see or feel anything.
Then the procession begins, and the king walks out into the street wearing – you guessed it – absolutely nothing. Everyone in the street talks about how good the king looks, how bright the colors are, how intricate the patterns are, until a small child finally blurts out, “But he isn’t wearing anything!”
That starts the domino effect. Bolstered by the small child’s statement, others begin to point out that the king isn’t wearing anything at all until everyone is convinced he is just walking around naked. The king doesn’t say anything, but we’re told he suspects that they are right. Unfortunately, it’s too late to stop the procession, so the king carries on as though he’s still finely dressed, with a few foolish noblemen still pretending to hold his train aloft.
When I asked my brother why he liked it so much, he mostly pointed to the humor. In his words, he said, “It’s got trickery and making an emperor walk around naked cause no one wants to admit that they look stupid.” Which about sums up the whole thing, really. I suspect he enjoys the trickery of the swindlers and the clever plot to make the king look foolish.
I think the story is also a good example of peer pressure and mob mentality, two things I think our world suffers from a lot. Think about the pressure to conform to the ideals of a political party, or to follow the “it” crowd or popular trends, or the holding the same opinions or beliefs about something as your family, even when you think it’s wrong. These are heavy notions, but the story shows us that all it takes is one person pointing out the truth to give others the confidence to speak up and share the truth.
It also teaches us not to be vain. You kind of get the hint that the king wouldn’t have been the victim of a practical joke if he wasn’t so worried about his appearance or how smart he appeared. At the same time, he was too vain to admit that he might be unfit for his position, an act of humility that might have resulted in change or growth within himself. Even at the end, he refused to publicly acknowledge his foolishness.
It’s my brother’s birthday, so I won’t go too deep into analyses here, because at its core this story is really just a funny tale about a pair of tricky tailors who outsmart and humiliate a vain and foolish emperor. It’s a popular tale that’s been adapted for children’s books and political cartoons alike. You might even have heard the line “the emperor has no clothes” in the popular musical Hamilton, which has just released a film version!
All in all, it’s a simple but poignant tale with a lot to teach. I hope y’all enjoyed this brief fairy tale spotlight. And to my brother, I hope you have an awesome birthday!