"The Emperor Has No Clothes"

Many of us remember Hans Christian Anderson’s fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes, from 1837. It is all about a vain king who was preoccupied with his appearance and his wardrobe. A pair of swindlers took advantage of this by pretending to be able to weave the finest cloth for him. Actually, no one could see the clothes, but the Emperor pretended to see the clothes and wore them (which was nothing), so he had on no clothes. Everyone was silent about the fact that he had nothing on, until a child blurted, “But he has nothing on!” Symbolically, this fable represents a situation in which people are...