The Emperor's New Clothes

[ 00:00] There was once an emperor who loved nothing in the world so much as beautiful new clothes. [ 00:09] While other rulers spent their mornings reviewing their armies, visiting their universities, or deciding the laws of the land, this emperor spent his hours in a room lined with mirrors, draped in silks of every color under the sun. [ 00:27] He did not care for the theater, he did not care for rides in the forest, and he only cared for his soldiers if their uniforms happened to be of a particularly splendid shade of crimson or gold. [ 00:41] This story comes to us from the cold, windswept shores of Denmark, written down nearly two centuries ago, in the year 1837, by a man named Hans Christian Anderson. [ 00:55] He was a writer who looked at the grand, serious world of grownups and saw the funny, fragile truths underneath. [ 01:04] Like many great tales, this one has been told in a thousand different ways across the generations, but the heart of it remains as bright and sharp as a needle. [ 01:14] It is a story about the maps we draw in our minds, the things we pretend to see, and the quiet power of a single honest voice. [ 01:24] In the grand capital of the emperor's kingdom, life was bustling, merry, and full of travelers. [ 01:31] But no matter who arrived at the city gates, the talk of the town always returned to the palace and the ruler who lived within it. [ 01:39] Most kings had a council chamber where they spent their days. [ 01:43] In this empire, if a foreign ambassador arrived and asked to see the ruler, the servants would not say, the king is in council. [ 01:50] Instead, they would bow politely and whisper, the emperor is in his wardrobe. [ 01:57] He had a different coat for every single hour of the day. [ 02:02] There was the morning coat of pale blue linen, stitched with silver threads that mimicked the morning dew. [ 02:10] There was the midday coat of deep forest green, heavy with emerald buttons that caught the light like sunbeams filtering through leaves. [ 02:20] There was the afternoon coat of plum-colored velvet, and the evening coat of midnight silk, so dark and rich it seemed to swallow the light of the candles. [ 02:32] The emperor's wardrobe was not merely a room. [ 02:36] It was a vast, labyrinthine hall of cedar chests, brass hangers, and velvet-lined drawers. [ 02:44] A small army of tailors, button makers, weavers, and starchers worked day and night, just to ensure that the emperor never had to wear the same outfit twice in a single month. [ 02:58] The emperor's obsession was a great boon to the city's merchants, but it was also a source of constant anxiety for his ministers. [ 03:06] The treasury was always nearly empty, drained by the constant demand for rare dyes from the east, soft furs from the north, and delicate lace from the south. [ 03:18] Yet, no one dared to suggest that the emperor might spend a little less on his collars and a little more on the city's crumbling bridges. [ 03:27] To do so would be to risk his displeasure, and a displeased emperor was a very uncomfortable thing indeed. [ 03:35] One sunny afternoon, two men arrived at the city gates. [ 03:41] They carried no heavy chests of fabric, no looms, and no shears. [ 03:47] They had only two small dusty bags and a great deal of confidence. [ 03:54] They were swindlers, rogues who made their living not by the honest sweat of their brows, but by understanding the secret fears and vanities of other people. [ 04:06] They had heard of the emperor who lived for fashion, and they had devised a plan so brilliant, so daring, and so utterly preposterous that it could only succeed in a court built on pretense. [ 04:23] They put it about the city that they were weavers, but not ordinary weavers. [ 04:29] They claimed to be master craftsmen from a distant,…

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