H. C. Andersen best fairy tales / Лучшие сказки Г.Х. Андерсена. Уровень 1

They were dancing and clapping their hands and shouting joyously,

“There is another swan here; a new one!”

Then they threw more bread and cake into the water and said,

“The new swan is the most beautiful of all, he is so young and pretty!”

And the old swans bowed their heads before him.

Then he felt quite ashamed and hid his head under his wing. He did not know what to do, he was so happy! But he was not at all proud. They persecuted and despised him for his ugliness, and now the said he was the most beautiful of all the birds! Even the elder tree bent down its boughs into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and bright.

Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart,

“I never dreamed of such happiness while I was the despised ugly duckling!”

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Many years ago there lived an Emperor who was so monstrous fond of fine new clothes that he spent all his money on it.

He wanted to be really smart. He didn’t care about his army, he didn’t didn’t care about his people. He only wanted to show his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour in the day. As people say about a king, that “he’s holding a council”, so in this country they always said, “The Emperor is in his dressing room”.

In the great city where he lived, life was very pleasant. Lots of strangers came there every day; and one day there arrived two swindlers. They said that they were weavers, and said they knew how to make the loveliest dress in the world.

Not only were the colours and patterns extraordinarily pretty, but the clothes had this marvellous property: they were invisible to anyone who could not work well or was intolerably stupid.

“Very excellent clothes those must be,” thought the Emperor; “if I put them on, I’ll be able to tell which are the men in my realm who aren’t fit for the posts they hold. I’ll be able to tell clever people from stupid ones[9 - to tell clever people from stupid ones – отличить умных людей от глупых].

I must have these clothes!”

He gave the two swindlers a large sum in advance, and they began their work. They set up two looms and pretended to be working. But they hadn’t a vestige of anything on the looms. In hot haste they demanded the finest of silk and the best of gold, which they stuffed into their own pockets.