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| The Emperor's New Clothes Illustrated by Pam Storey Story re-told by Grace De La Touche © 1993 Grandreams Limited Published by Grandreams Limited Jadwin House, 205/211 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2JU Printed in Italy ISBN 1-85830-113-0 |
This retelling of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' by Grace De La Touche, illustrated by Pam Storey, was copyrighted to Grandreams in 1993. It was published as part of Grandreams' Goodnight, Sleeptight Storybook series, as part of a quartet alongside retellings of 'The Tinderbox', 'The Princess and the Pea', and 'The Wild Swans', likely in a boxed set, as all share the same ISBN.
For an overview of the Goodnight, Sleeptight Storybook collection, with links to my reviews of the other books in the series, see Goodnight, Sleeptight Storybook Series (Grandreams, 1990s).
Book details
The front cover shows the Emperor wearing typical royal coronation robes (red with ermine trim), although slightly more ornate than in other illustrations by Storey where these robes are used – here there are additional gold spots, buttons and bow, no doubt a reference to the Emperor's love of fashion. A servant holds a mirror to the Emperor's back so he can admire his outfit. (Note: This image doesn't align with any of the interior illustrations).
The inside of the front cover features a display of the Emperor's finery, with an ornate frock coat and jabot on a valet stand, surrounded by three other valet stands with mannequin heads displaying wigs ang hats, and an additional hat and shoes at the base of the image.
The title page features a wooden inn sign with the picture of a shoe, and the date 1787 showing, inside a leafy frame.
The story takes place over 20 pages, beginning on the back of the title page and ending on the inside of the back cover.
The story - retold by Grace De La Touche
The story begins with Grace De La Touche's habitual beginning for this series – "Long ago and far away..." We are introduced to a "very vain" Emperor who "could think about nothing but his clothes". His courtiers worried that his clothes, which overflowed in all his own many wardrobes, would soon end up in their own, but the local "weavers, tailors, cobblers and silk merchants of the city [were all] very busy and very happy!"
As news of the Emperor's love of fashion spread, "two very shady characters" decided to fool him. They meet with the Chamberlain and tell him of their new magical cloth, and he takes them to the Emperor, who loves the description of the cloth and asks for it to be used to make him a new outfit for a grand parade in the city in two weeks' time. The Emperor instructs the Chamberlain to give them all they need and they begin to work "behind closed doors".
When the Chamberlain checks on their progress and can see nothing they tell him:
Only the truly clever and brilliant can see the cloth. Most people would see an empty loom, but a clever man like you will see our wonderful cloth.
The Chamberlain pretends to see it, "not wanting to look stupid", and then quickly ensures that the Emperor doesn't look stupid as well, so the Emperor pretends to see it as well. The courtiers all fail to view the cloth but pretend to see it, everyone having the same quandary: "each courtier secretly wondered if they were really stupid, as they had seen nothing at all."
The Emperor then puts on the suit for his parade. "News of his amazing outfit had reached the townsfolk" and at first they pretend to see it, but when a small boy who hadn't heard of the magical cloth points out "The Emperor has no clothes on at all!" the people agree.
The two tailors, who "were in fact thieves" absconded with their bags of gold, "[p]robably laughing all the way!"
But the story ends with a positive outcome: "[T]he Emperor was very ashamed. He had been so vain, and now he had been made to look a fool...But the Emperor is a wiser man now, and spends a lot more time with his advisors and far less with his tailors."
This retelling has some differences from the Hans Christian Andersen original. The details about the Emperor's wardrobe sand his courtiers' fear of its overflow are new, as well as details about how often he changed clothes and the busyness of the local clothing industry. The original story also has two ministers going to see the cloth before the emperor does, rather than the one Chamberlain. The biggest difference, though, is in the story's ending – in Andersen's tale, there is no mention of what happens to the swindlers, and most significantly the Emperor, when his error is pointed out, simply doubles down:
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, "This procession has got to go on." So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all.
While Andersen's ending speaks loudly to the typical behaviour of the proud and vain, I much prefer De La Touche's version, where something is learned and righted.
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