The Emperor's New Clothes

"The Emperor's New Clothes"
Short story by Hans Christian Andersen
Illustration by Vilhelm Pedersen, Andersen's first illustrator
Original titleKejserens nye klæder
CountryDenmark
LanguageDanish
Genre(s)Literary folktale
Publication
Published inFairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. Third Booklet. 1837. (Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. Første Samling. Tredie Hefte. 1837.)
Publication typeFairy tale collection
PublisherC.A. Reitzel
Publication date7 April 1837
Chronology
 
The Little Mermaid
 
Only a Fiddler

"The Emperor's New Clothes" (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder [ˈkʰɑjsɐns ˈnyˀə ˈkʰlɛːðə]) is a literary folktale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.[1]

"The Emperor's New Clothes" was first published with "The Little Mermaid" in Copenhagen, Denmark, by C. A. Reitzel, on 7 April 1837, as the third and final installment of Andersen's Fairy Tales Told for Children and has since been adapted to various media. The tale serves to illustrate the concept of gaslighting and the folly of authoritarianism[2], while the story's title, the phrase "the Emperor has no clothes", and variations thereof have been adopted for use in numerous other works and as idioms.

Illustration by Hans Tegner, 1900
  1. ^ Andersen 2005a 4
  2. ^ "Something widely accepted as true or professed as being praiseworthy due to an unwillingness of the general population to criticize it or be seen as going against popular opinion." http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/the+emperor's+new+clothes