A retelling of The Emperorโ€™s New Clothes, a story by Hans Christian Andersen.

Once upon a time, there was a King who was totally obsessed with clothes. Seriously, this guy loved new outfits more than anything else! He spent every single penny he had on the latest fashions.

He didn’t care about his people, going to the theater, or even hunting. The only reason he’d ever leave his castle was to show off his awesome new clothes.

This King was so into fashion that he had a different outfit for every hour of the day. Can you imagine?

While other kings were busy ruling their Kingdoms, this King was always in his closet, trying on clothes. People didn’t say, “The King is in his court,” they said, “The King is in his closet!”

One day, three sneaky tricksters came to the Kingdom. They said they were excellent weavers who could make amazing clothes with the coolest colors and designs. But these weren’t just any clothes! They claimed these special clothes would be invisible to anyone who was terrible at their job or had noodles for brains.

The King thought, “Whoa, these clothes sound awesome! If I had those, I could easily see who’s not doing their job right and who’s smart in my Kingdom.” He was so excited that he gave the tricksters a ton of money to start making these magical clothes right away.

The tricksters set up their weaving machines and pretended to work really hard, but they were actually faking it. They didn’t do any real work at all! They asked for the finest silk and most expensive gold thread, but instead of using them, they just stuffed everything into their bags. Then, they continued pretending to work on their empty looms until late at night.

After a while, the King started to wonder how the weavers were doing with his awesome clothes. But then he remembered that only smart and capable people could see the clothes, and he didn’t want to look silly if he couldn’t see them.

“Hmm,” the King thought, “maybe I should send someone else to check on the weavers first.” He wanted to know what was going on without risking looking foolish.

Everyone in the Kingdom had heard about these amazing clothes that only clever people could see. They were all super curious to find out who was smart and who wasn’t!

The King decided to send his trusty old advisor to see the weavers. “He’s a clever guy and the best person for the job,” the King thought.

So the old advisor went to the room where the tricksters pretended to work hard on their empty looms. The advisor looked around, his eyes wide with surprise. “What’s going on here?” he thought. “I don’t see any fabric on these looms at all!” But he didn’t say anything out loud.

The advisor is suspicious

The tricksters politely asked the old advisor to come closer to their looms. They pointed at the empty frames and asked, “Do you like the pattern? Aren’t the colors amazing?”

The poor advisor looked and looked, but he couldn’t see anything. “What’s going on?” he thought. “Am I a complete nincompoop? I’ve never thought that before. I can’t let anyone find out!” He didn’t want to admit that he couldn’t see the clothes.

“Well, Mr. Advisor,” said one of the tricksters, still pretending to weave, “what do you think of the fabric?”

The advisor put on his glasses and stared at the loom. “Oh, it’s fantastic!” he said, even though he couldn’t see a thing. “The colors, the pattern… I’ll tell the King right away how much I love it!”

“Thank you so much!” the tricksters replied. They started describing the colors and patterns of the imaginary fabric. The advisor listened carefully so he could repeat it all to the King. Then, the tricksters asked for even more silk and gold, saying they needed it to finish the job. But of course, they just put all the materials into their bags and kept pretending to work.

The King sent another important person from his court to check on the weavers and see if the clothes were almost done. But the same thing happened to this guy! He looked at the looms from every angle but couldn’t see anything except the empty frames.

The tricksters asked him, “Don’t you think the fabric is just as amazing as the advisor said it was?” They kept pointing at nothing and talking about the colors and patterns that didn’t exist.

โ€œThis is so weird!โ€ the messenger thought. โ€œI can’t let anyone find out.” So he pretended to be amazed by the fabric he couldn’t see and told the king, “Your Majesty, the cloth the weavers are making is incredible!”

In our story by Hans Christian Andersen the advisor doesn't see any new cloth

The whole kingdom was buzzing with excitement about the amazing clothes the King had ordered. Everyone wanted to see them!

Finally, the King decided it was time to inspect the fancy fabric himself. He sent for the tricky weavers and demanded that they show him their work.

“Your Majesty, just look at it! The design! The colors!” Exclaimed the tricksters.ย 

The King squinted and looked closely. “Huh?” he thought to himself. “I don’t see anything! Is something wrong with me? Am I a total goofball? Am I not fit to be King? That would be awful!”

The King holds nothing in his hands

But he didn’t want to say anything because he was worried about what people would think. So, instead, he smiled and said, “Oh, the fabric is lovely! I approve!” 

“Magnificent! Charming! Excellent!” all the Kingโ€™s men exclaimed, even though they couldn’t see a thing. They told the king he should wear his new clothes made from this amazing fabric in the upcoming parade.

The King was thrilled that everyone loved the clothes, so he gave the tricksters medals to wear on their jackets and declared them “Master Weavers.”

The night before the big parade, the tricksters stayed up all night with many candles lit, making everyone think they were working really hard on the king’s clothes. They pretended to take the fabric off the looms, cut the air with scissors, and sew with needles that had no thread.

Finally, they announced, “The King’s new clothes are finished!”

The King and all his important friends came to see the clothes. The tricksters pretended to hold up the clothes, saying, “Here are your Majesty’s pants! Here’s the scarf! Here’s the coat! The whole outfit is as light as a feather. You’ll feel like you’re not wearing anything at all! But that’s what makes it so special.”

The tricksters pretended to dress the King in the new outfit. He turned and posed in front of the mirror.

“They fit perfectly!” everyone shouted. “These are the most amazing royal clothes ever!”

“Your Majesty, the royal canopy for the parade is ready,” said the parade director.

“Great! I’m ready,” the King replied. He turned around in front of the mirror, pretending to check out his awesome new outfit.

The King’s helpers pretended to hold up his long, imaginary robe as they walked behind him. 

And so, the King marched through the streets, and everyone watching yelled, “Wow! Look at that long, beautiful robe! And that scarf is so cool!” No one wanted to admit they couldn’t see the clothes.

The townspeople admire the King's new clothes

Truth be told, none of the King’s other outfits had ever caused such a stir as this invisible one!

But then, amongst all the noise, a small voice rose up, clear and strong. It was a child who dared to speak the truth. “But he doesn’t have anything on!” the child exclaimed.

The crowd gasped. At first, people whispered to each other, “Did he really say that?” But then, more and more people started to agree. The King could feel a cold chill. He knew the kid was right, but he was too proud to admit it. He held his head high and kept marching, even though he felt more naked than ever.

So the king continued the parade, and everyone pretended to see his beautiful new clothes. After all, if the King and all his important friends said the clothes were amazing, who could argue with that?

My dear friends, let’s not be fooled by appearances. The important thing is to use your eyes and your smarts and not be afraid to shout out the truth, even if your voice is the only one. Who knows, you might just save a silly king from walking around in his birthday suit!

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