said the old goblin. "Ihave taken a mother for you, and now you may take one of your aunts."
  But the youngsters said they would rather make a speech anddrink to their good fellowship; they had no wish to marry. Then theymade speeches and drank toasts, and tipped their glasses, to show thatthey were empty. Then they took off their coats, and lay down on thetable to sleep; for they made themselves quite at home. But the oldgoblin danced about the room with his young bride, and exchanged bootswith her, which is more fashionable than exchanging rings.
  "The cock is crowing," said the old elfin maiden who acted ashousekeeper; now we must close the shutters, that the sun may notscorch us."
  Then the hill closed up. But the lizards continued to run up anddown the riven tree; and one said to the other, "Oh, how much I waspleased with the old goblin!"
  "The boys pleased me better," said the earth-worm. But then thepoor miserable creature could not see.
  THE END.
  1872
  FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
  THE EMPEROR'S NEW SUIT
  by Hans Christian Andersen
  MANY, many years ago lived an emperor, who thought so much ofnew clothes that he spent all his money in order to obtain them; hisonly ambition was to be always well dressed. He did not care for hissoldiers, and the theatre did not amuse him; the only thing, infact, he thought anything of was to drive out and show a new suit ofclothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day; and as one would sayof a king "He is in his cabinet," so one could say of him, "Theemperor is in his dressing-room."
  The great city where he resided was very gay; every day manystrangers from all parts of the globe arrived. One day two swindlerscame to this city; they made people believe that they were weavers,and declared they could manufacture the finest cloth to be imagined.Their colours and patterns, they said, were not only exceptionallybeautiful, but the clothes made of their material possessed thewonderful quality of being invisible to any man who was unfit forhis office or unpardonably stupid.
  "That must be wonderful cloth," thought the emperor. "If I were tobe dressed in a suit made of this cloth I should be able to find outwhich men in my empire were unfit for their places, and I coulddistinguish the clever from the stupid. I must have this cloth wovenfor me without delay." And he gave a large sum of money to theswindlers, in advance, that they should set to work without any lossof time. They set up two looms, and pretended to be very hard at work,but they did nothing whatever on the looms. They asked for thefinest silk and the most precious gold-cloth; all they got they didaway with, and worked at the empty looms till late at night.
  "I should very much like to know how they are getting on withthe cloth," thought the emperor. But he felt rather uneasy when heremembered that he who was not fit for his office could not see it.Personally, he was of opinion that he had nothing to fear, yet hethought it advisable to send somebody else first to see how mattersstood. Everybody in the town knew what a remarkable quality thestuff possessed, and all were anxious to see how bad or stupid theirneighbours were.
  "I shall send my honest old minister to the weavers," thoughtthe emperor. "He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he isintelligent, and nobody understands his office better than he."
  The good old minister went into the room where the swindlers satbefore the empty looms. "Heaven preserve us!"