Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 3:51
The Emperor's New Clothes
Two swindlers sell a vain emperor cloth that fools can't see. Nobody dares admit they see nothing, until one little girl speaks up. Andersen, retold.
Narrator
The Emperor
Master Snip, a swindler
Madam Tuck, a swindler
The Old Minister
A Little GirlOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Emperor's New Clothes is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1837 and based on a medieval Spanish tale. Two swindlers sell a vain emperor cloth that is supposedly invisible to fools, and the whole court pretends to see it. This retelling plays it as a gentle comedy with a brave little girl at the end.
What it teaches
People will pretend all sorts of things rather than look foolish. It takes honesty, and sometimes a child's eyes, to say what everyone can see.
Suits
Ages 4–10
Tips for telling it
- Play the emperor's pauses big; kids love the breezy line.
- Ask why nobody told the truth, and what your child would have said.
- Keep it light: the joke is on the grown-ups, not on anyone's body.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Emperor's New Clothes?
- Vanity and fear of looking foolish can make whole crowds pretend. Honesty takes courage, and the truth is often plain to anyone who isn't afraid to see it.
- Who wrote The Emperor's New Clothes?
- Hans Christian Andersen published it in Denmark in 1837. He based it on a tale in the Spanish book Count Lucanor by Don Juan Manuel, written in 1335.
- What does the emperor has no clothes mean?
- It is an expression for pointing out an obvious truth that everyone else is ignoring or pretending not to notice, usually because they are afraid to speak up.
Theater
Reborn at My Engagement Party
声匠原创
Pushed down the stairs by her fiancé and her sister, Shen Qingci wakes up at her own engagement party. She exposes them both, then he whispers in her ear: did you come back too?
Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats
Romance of the Three Kingdoms · Luo Guanzhong (original) · VoiceSmiths adaptation · 1522
Zhou Yu sets a trap: 100,000 arrows in ten days. Kongming asks for three, waits for fog, and lets Cao Cao pay. Same cast as the Chinese episode.
The North Wind and the Sun
声匠改编
The boastful North Wind and the gentle Sun bet on who can make a traveler take off his cloak. Aesop's fable of why warmth wins where force fails, retold.
