Andersen's Fairy Tales

281 Pages·2013·0.52 MB·English

ANDERSEN’S FAIRY TALES
byHansChristianAndersenandproduced
byDianneBean
StyledbyLimpidSoft
Contents
THEEMPEROR’SNEWCLOTHES 4
THESWINEHERD 14
THEREALPRINCESS 23
THESHOESOFFORTUNE 26
PART I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
PART II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
PART III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
PART IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
PART V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
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CONTENTS
PART VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
THEFIRTREE 90
THESNOWQUEEN 106
FIRST STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
SECOND STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
THIRD STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
FOURTH STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
FIFTH STORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
SIXTH STORY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
SEVENTH STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
THELEAP-FROG 164
THEELDERBUSH 168
THEBELL 182
THEOLDHOUSE 191
THEHAPPYFAMILY 205
THESTORYOFAMOTHER 212
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CONTENTS
THEFALSECOLLAR 222
THESHADOW 227
THELITTLEMATCHGIRL 250
THEDREAMOFLITTLETUK 255
THENAUGHTYBOY 264
THEREDSHOES 269
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The present document was derived from
text provided by Project Gutenberg (docu-
ment1597)whichwasmadeavailablefreeof
charge.Thisdocumentisalsofreeofcharge.
THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
Manyyearsago, therewasanEmperor, whowassoex-
cessivelyfondofnewclothes,thathespentallhismoney
in dress. He did not trouble himself in the least about
hissoldiers;nordidhecaretogoeithertothetheatreor
thechase,exceptfortheopportunitiesthenaffordedhim
for displaying his new clothes. He had a different suit
foreachhouroftheday;andasofanyotherkingorem-
peror,oneisaccustomedtosay,“heissittingincouncil,”
itwasalwayssaidofhim,“TheEmperorissittinginhis
wardrobe.”
Time passed merrily in the large town which was his
capital;strangersarrivedeverydayatthecourt.Oneday,
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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
two rogues, calling themselves weavers, made their ap-
pearance. They gave out that they knew how to weave
stuffsofthemostbeautifulcolorsandelaboratepatterns,
the clothes manufactured from which should have the
wonderful property of remaining invisible to everyone
whowasunfitfortheofficeheheld,orwhowasextraor-
dinarilysimpleincharacter.
“These must, indeed, be splendid clothes!” thought
the Emperor. “Had I such a suit, I might at once find
outwhatmeninmyrealmsareunfitfortheiroffice,and
alsobeabletodistinguishthewisefromthefoolish!This
stuffmustbewovenformeimmediately.”Andhecaused
large sums of money to be given to both the weavers in
orderthattheymightbegintheirworkdirectly.
So the two pretended weavers set up two looms, and
affected to work very busily, though in reality they did
nothingatall. Theyaskedforthemostdelicatesilkand
the purest gold thread; put both into their own knap-
sacks; and then continued their pretended work at the
emptyloomsuntillateatnight.
“Ishouldliketoknowhowtheweaversaregettingon
withmycloth,” saidtheEmperortohimself, aftersome
little time had elapsed; he was, however, rather embar-
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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
rassed,whenherememberedthatasimpleton,oroneun-
fitforhisoffice,wouldbeunabletoseethemanufacture.
Tobesure,hethoughthehadnothingtoriskinhisown
person;butyet,hewouldprefersendingsomebodyelse,
to bring him intelligence about the weavers, and their
work, before he troubled himself in the affair. All the
people throughout the city had heard of the wonderful
propertytheclothwastopossess;andallwereanxiousto
learn how wise, or how ignorant, their neighbors might
provetobe.
“I will send my faithful old minister to the weavers,”
saidtheEmperoratlast,aftersomedeliberation,“hewill
bebestabletoseehowtheclothlooks;forheisamanof
sense,andnoonecanbemoresuitableforhisofficethan
heis.”
So the faithful old minister went into the hall, where
the knaves were working with all their might, at their
empty looms. “What can be the meaning of this?”
thoughttheoldman,openinghiseyesverywide.“Ican-
notdiscovertheleastbitofthreadonthelooms.” How-
ever,hedidnotexpresshisthoughtsaloud.
The impostors requested him very courteously to be
so good as to come nearer their looms; and then asked
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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
him whether the design pleased him, and whether the
colorswerenotverybeautiful;atthesametimepointing
to the empty frames. The poor old minister looked and
looked,hecouldnotdiscoveranythingonthelooms,for
averygoodreason,viz:therewasnothingthere.“What!”
thoughtheagain. “IsitpossiblethatIamasimpleton? I
haveneverthoughtsomyself; andnoonemustknowit
now if I am so. Can it be, that I am unfit for my office?
No,thatmustnotbesaideither. Iwillneverconfessthat
Icouldnotseethestuff.”
“Well, Sir Minister!” said one of the knaves, still pre-
tending to work. “You do not say whether the stuff
pleasesyou.”
“Oh, it is excellent!” replied the old minister, looking
at the loom through his spectacles. “This pattern, and
thecolors,yes,IwilltelltheEmperorwithoutdelay,how
verybeautifulIthinkthem.”
“Weshallbemuchobligedtoyou,”saidtheimpostors,
and then they named the different colors and described
the pattern of the pretended stuff. The old minister lis-
tened attentively to their words, in order that he might
repeat them to the Emperor; and then the knaves asked
for more silk and gold, saying that it was necessary to
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THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES
complete what they had begun. However, they put all
thatwasgiventhemintotheirknapsacks;andcontinued
toworkwithasmuchapparentdiligenceasbeforeattheir
emptylooms.
The Emperor now sent another officer of his court
to see how the men were getting on, and to ascertain
whether the cloth would soon be ready. It was just the
same with this gentleman as with the minister; he sur-
veyedtheloomsonallsides,butcouldseenothingatall
buttheemptyframes.
“Doesnotthestuffappearasbeautifultoyou,asitdid
tomylordtheminister?”askedtheimpostorsoftheEm-
peror’ssecondambassador;atthesametimemakingthe
same gestures as before, and talking of the design and
colorswhichwerenotthere.
“I certainly am not stupid!” thought the messenger.
“It must be, that I am not fit for my good, profitable of-
fice! Thatisveryodd; however,nooneshallknowany-
thingaboutit.” Andaccordinglyhepraisedthestuffhe
could not see, and declared that he was delighted with
both colors and patterns. “Indeed, please your Imperial
Majesty,”saidhetohissovereignwhenhereturned,“the
clothwhichtheweaversarepreparingisextraordinarily
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