ABSTRACT
An enduring image from the classic cautionary tale The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen is of a large, pink bottom, waddling its way towards its humiliating destiny. Much of the appeal, I suspect, is derived from the ultimate triumph of innocence and honesty, as personified by the young child, who is the only one willing to recognize publicly that the Emperor is stark naked; and the very public, and satisfying, humiliation of the mighty. The bad guys, the swindling tailors, escape, presumably to swindle again, thereby demonstrating that bad guys do sometimes win - rather a dubious outcome for a children's tale, which convinces me that it must be banned somewhere. However, it is very much a tale of vanity and wishful thinking; of peer pressure and conceit; and ultimately, of course, of the triumph of innocence.
