The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen (2 April, 1805 – 4 August, 1875) was a Danish author who wrote a lot of famous fairy tales, including “The Little Mermaid”, “The Little Match Girl” and “The Princess and the Pea”. His stories have achieved worldwide popularity and inspired ballets, plays, animated and live-action films.
Rewritten story Read the story and answer the following questions. 1. A long long time ago, an emperor was very fond of new clothes. The only thing important to him was to be well dressed every day. He wanted to appear before everybody in beautiful new clothes. The only thing his people could say about him was that “The emperor is in his dressing room trying on new clothes.” 2. One day, two swindlers from other places arrived in the country. They pretended to everyone that they were weavers and that they could make the finest cloth in the world. They boasted, “The colours and patterns are very beautiful and the material is so special that it is invisible to stupid persons.” 3. The emperor thought that he must have clothes made of this wonderful material. He could then wear them and find out the stupid people. He invited these two rascals to his palace and gave them a large sum of money so that they would start working at once. They asked for the finest silk and the most precious gold-cloth. They then hid away the expensive material and pretended to be working very hard at the empty looms from dawn till late at night. 4. The emperor would like to know how the weavers were getting on with the cloth, so he sent someone to find out first. 5. The emperor sent his honest old minister to the weavers. When the old minister arrived, he saw the swindlers sitting before the empty looms. He only saw the looms spinning but could not see anything on them. He felt worried but did not say anything. The swindlers asked, “How do you find the cloth?” “Oh, it’s really beautiful. I’ll tell the emperor.” 6.
“How clever you are!” the two weavers described to him the colours and pattern. The minister listened
carefully so that he could tell the emperor what the cloth looked like. They continued to pretend to be working busily at the empty looms. 7. The emperor sent another minister to see how the weavers were getting on. This second minister also could see nothing. Nevertheless, he praised the beautiful colours and pattern of the cloth. “The cloth is brilliant,” he told the emperor. The emperor wanted to see it himself. He went to the two swindlers, who were very busy at the