When someone in my book group suggested that we read The Emperor’s New Clothes as a selection one month I thought it was an unusual idea and agreed. I got The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales edited by Maria Tatar out of the library and read the Hans Christian Andersen story.

The story is basically a dark tale about vanity, hypocrisy and innocence. Just in case you grew up under a rock and no one read to you as a child, the synopsis is that two swindlers seduce and deceive the king by asserting that those who cannot see the magnificent clothing they produce are either stupid or unfit for office, or both.  Only the innocent child has the courage to say the emperor isn’t  wearing anything at all.  The grownups, including the king, are afraid to appear unworthy.

This fairy tale, like many others, is a teaching tool as well as entertainment. Andersen is mining a rich, oral folkloric vein that conveys a clear moral.

As Tatar says:“Fairy tales, once told by peasants around the fireside to distract them from the tedium of domestic chores, were transplanted with great success into the nursery where they thrive in the form of entertainment and edification for children.”

This book is illustrated with wonderful nineteenth century pictures that interpret the stories beautifully and lend a bit of nostalgia if you were lucky enough to have been raised on stories.