Page:Hans Andersen's fairy tales (Robinson).djvu/281

 THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES the looking-glass, in order that he might appear to be examining his handsome suit.

The lords of the bed-chamber, who were to carry his Majesty's train, felt about on the ground, as if they were lifting up the ends of the mantle, and pretending to be carrying something; for they would by no means betray anything like simplicity or unfitness for their office.

So now the Emperor walked under his high canopy in the midst of the procession, through the streets of his capital; and



all the people standing by, and those at the windows, cried out, 'Oh! how beautiful are our Emperor's new clothes! what a magnificent train there is to the mantle! and how gracefully the scarf hangs!' in short, no one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit for his office. Certainly, none of the Emperor's various suits had ever made so great an impression as these invisible ones.

'But the Emperor has nothing at all on!' said a little child. 'Listen to the voice of innocence!' exclaimed his father; and what the child had said was whispered from one to another. 235