The emperor came to them with his most distinguished cavaliers. Both swindlers lifted one arm in the air as if they were holding something and said, “See, here are the pants. Here’s the jacket, and here’s the cape!” They continued on and on. “They are as light as cobwebs. You might think you weren’t wearing anything, but that’s the beauty of this fabric.”
“Yes!” said all the cavaliers, but they couldn’t see a thing, for there wasn’t anything to see.
“Now, if your royal majesty would be so kind as to remove your clothes,” said the swindlers, “we’ll put the new ones on, right here in front of this big mirror.”
The emperor laid aside his clothes, and the swindlers acted as if they gave him each piece of the new outfit they had sewed, and the emperor turned and twisted in front of the mirror.
“Lord, how good that looks on you! How beautifully it fits!” they all said. “What a pattern! What lovely colors! What a precious outfit it is!”
“They’re waiting outside with the canopy that will be carried over the throne in the parade,” said the Master of Ceremonies.
“Well, I’m ready,” said the emperor. “Doesn’t it fit beautifully?” and he pirouetted in front of the mirror one more time. He was pretending to admire his splendid outfit.
The chamberlains who were to carry the train of the cape, fumbled around on the floor, as if they were lifting up the train. They walked carrying their arms in the air and didn’t dare act as if they saw nothing.
So the emperor paraded under the lovely canopy, and all the people on the streets and in the windows said, “Good God, how awesome the emperor’s new clothes are! What a splendid train he has on his cape! How beautifully it fits!” None of the people would admit that they didn’t see anything because then they wouldn’t be fit for their jobs, or they’d be called terribly stupid. None of the emperor’s clothes had been so admired before.
“But he isn’t wearing anything at all,” said a little child.
“Dear God, listen to the voice of innocence,” his father said, and each person whispered to the other what the child had said.
“But he isn’t wearing anything at all!” everyone shouted at last.
The emperor shuddered because he was afraid they were right, but he thought, “I have to finish the parade.” And the chamberlains walked on, carrying the train that wasn’t there.
THUMBELINA
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a woman who desperately wanted a little child, but she didn’t know where to get one. She went to an old witch and said to her, “I really want so badly to have a little child! Can you tell me where I can get one?”
“Yes, I’m sure we can manage that!” the witch said. “Here’s a barley seed, but it’s not the kind that grows in a farmer’s field, or the kind that the chickens eat. Plant it in a flower pot, and you’ll really see something!”
“Thanks so much!” the woman said and gave the witch twelve coins, went home, and planted the barley seed, and right away a beautiful big flower sprouted. It looked just like a tulip, but the petals were closed tightly together like a bud.
“That’s a beautiful flower!” said the woman and kissed it on the pretty red and yellow petals, but just as she kissed it, the flower gave a huge bang and opened up. It was clear that it was a real tulip, but right in the middle of the flower, sitting on the green perch, was a tiny little girl, graceful and lovely. She was no bigger than your thumb, and so she was called Thumbelina.
She had a splendid lacquered walnut shell for a cradle with a mattress of blue violet petals, and her blanket was a rose petal. She slept there at night, but during the day she played on the table where the woman had filled a saucer with water and put flowers all around the edge with their stems in the water. A large tulip petal floated on the water, and Thumbelina would sit on the petal and sail back and forth from one side of the saucer to the other. She had two white horse hairs for oars. It looked like fun. She could sing too, more beautifully than anyone had heard before.
One night when she was lying in her pretty little bed, a nasty toad hopped in through the window, for one of the panes was broken. The toad was big, ugly, and wet, and it hopped right down on the table where Thumbelina was sleeping under the red rose petal.
“That’ll be a lovely wife for my son,” said the toad, and then she grabbed the walnut shell where Thumbelina was sleeping and hopped away with her through the window and down into the garden.
There was a big wide river there, but right by the bank it was muddy and boggy, and that is where the toad lived with her son. Ugh! He was ugly and nasty too and looked just like his mother. “Croak, croak, brekka krekka” was all he could say when he saw the lovely little girl in the walnut shell.
“Don’t talk so loudly, or she’ll wake up,” said the old toad. “She could still run away from us because she’s as light as a feather. We’ll put her out on the river on one of the lily pads. It will be like an island for her since she’s so small, and she won’t be able to escape from there while we prepare the parlor down under the mud where you’ll live.”
Many lily pads with wide green leaves were growing in the river. They looked like they were floating on top of the water, and the pad that was furthest out was also the biggest. The old toad swam out there and left the walnut shell with Thumbelina inside.
The poor little thing woke up quite early in the morning, and when she saw where she was, she began crying bitterly. There was water on all sides of the big green leaf, and she could not get to land.
The old toad was down in the mud decorating the parlor with rushes and yellow cowslips so it would be truly nice for her new daughter-in-law. Then she and her ugly son swam out to the lily pad where Thumbelina was standing because they wanted to get her pretty bed to set it up in the bridal chamber before the wedding. The old toad curtsied deeply in the water and said to her, “This is my son. He’s going to be your husband, and you’ll live so nicely together down in the mud!”
