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ALEX: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Princess and the Podcast, the best Hans Christian Andersen analysis podcast out there. I'm Alex ANA: and I'm Ana. Today we will be talking about Anderson's rocky relationship with royalty through performance and analysis of his tales, "The Princess and the Pea" and "The Emperor's New Clothes". These are two tales that are critical of royalty, which is unusual for Anderson who usually wrote stories which celebrated princes and princesses. ALEX: But before we get to the reading of those two tales, why don't we talk a little bit about Anderson's life and relationship with royalty? ANA: Great idea. Let's start with a bit of background. Anderson grew up poor in the city of Odense, Denmark. His obsession with royalty might have even started at a young age because his father actually believed that they were long lost Royalty. ALEX: Oh, interesting. And yeah, obviously, it remained a theme throughout his life. He surrounded himself with nobility and was always almost ashamed of his poor background, and apparently his rich friends didn't shy away from reminding him of that. ANA: Oh, so that explains why he wrote all these stories like his most famous, "The Little Mermaid". That were sort of royalty positive or lifted up the idea of royalty. But he has as mentioned these two stories that seem to contradict that, which are "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Princess and the Pea". ALEX: Yeah, so starting with the Emperor's New Clothes, how does that criticize or make fun of royalty? ANA: Well, to start off, in the story, The emperor is a man who's literally obsessed with clothes and his outfits. And it's even mentioned that he cares much more about what he's going to wear during the day than about his soldiers or his real duties. For me, that's making fun of the futility and priorities royalty might have instead of putting effort into well, their jobs as leaders. Secondly, Anderson's story is about the Empire trying to find out through magical outfits, who is unfit for their post in his kingdom or stupid, of course, well, it's a fairy tale, but seriously? In the end his wish is to find out the truth about others. But the Emperor is the one that's put in the most awkward situation of walking a parade completely naked in front of his whole kingdom. If that's not completely ridiculous and embarrassing, I don't know it would be. Based on this, why then would he write these two stories that aren't so kind to royalty? ALEX: Yeah, so it is unusual for Anderson, because he wrote all these stories that kind of celebrated royalty or just made them look like the good guys, which is why many people seem to have misread the Princess and the Pea as just being another one of those princess love stories and not a satirical tale. I think it a lot of it comes from just frustration because he surrounded himself with royalty for much of his life, but he you know, was always in the back of his mind, he knew that he was not truly one of them. He came from a very poor background. And so you know, eventually that that'll get frustrating, especially because apparently they tended to make fun of him even for his modest background. And, you know, if you're constantly surrounded by royals, you're going to start to see the downsides of royalty. So I think it was just a good way of taking his frustration out with not being a true royal just by by telling these tales that are kind of making fun of them in a sly way. ANA: Yeah, yeah, that's very interesting. Um, well, this brings us to the performance section. So we're going to do a dramatic reading of both tales, starting with the Princess and the Pea, and then we'll keep going with our discussion. Transition music “The Princess and the Pea” PAUSE Narrator: Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He traveled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess. PAUSE Narrator: One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Storm sound effect Narrator: Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it. Knocking on gate sound effect Narrator: It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess. Old Queen: Well, we’ll soon find that out... Narrator: Thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. PAUSE Narrator: On this, the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked: Old Queen: Good morning darling. How did you sleep? Princess: Oh, very badly! I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible! Narrator: Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds. Prince: Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that! Narrator: So the prince took her for his wife, for now, he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it. PAUSE Narrator: There, that is a true story. Transition music ANA: That was the Princess and the Pea. Now we move on to the Emperor's New Clothes. Transition music PAUSE “The Emperor’s New Clothes” Narrator: Many years ago, there lived an Emperor who cared *so much* about beautiful new clothes that he spent all his money on dressing stylishly. He took no interest at all in his soldiers, nor did he care to attend the theater unless of course, it gave him a chance to show off his new clothes. Narrator: One day in the big city where the Emperor lived, two swindlers appeared. They claimed to be weavers and said that they knew how to weave the loveliest cloth you could imagine, which also had the amazing ability to become invisible to those who were unfit for their posts or just hopelessly stupid. Emperor: “Those must be lovely clothes! If I wore something like that, I could tell which men in my kingdom were unfit for their posts, and I would be able to tell the smart ones from the stupid ones”. Narrator: And he paid the swindlers a large sum of money so that they could get started at once. The swindlers assembled a couple of looms and pretended to be working, but there was nothing at all on their looms. Narrator: Everyone in town had heard about the cloth’s mysterious power, and they were all eager to discover the incompetence or stupidity of their neighbors. Emperor: “I will send my honest old minister to the weavers” Narrator: So off went the good-natured old minister to the workshop. 1st Minister: “God save us! Why can’t I see a thing! “Is it possible that I’m an idiot?” I never once suspected it, and I mustn’t let on that is a possibility. Can it be that I’m unfit for my post? No, it will never do for me to admit that I can’t see the cloth. 1st Swindler: “Well, why aren’t you saying anything about it?” 1st Minister: “Oh it’s enchanting! I shall tell the Emperor right away how much I like it!” 2nd Swindler: “Ah, we are so glad that you like it” Narrator: After a while, the Emperor sent a second respected official to see how the weaving was progressing. What happened to the first minister also happened to him. Since there was nothing there but an empty loom, he couldn’t see a thing. Like the first minister, he wondered whether he was stupid or unfit for his post. He also lied to the swindlers and told the Emperor how much he loved the cloth PAUSE Narrator: The splendid fabric soon became the talk of the town. And now the Emperor wanted to see the cloth for himself while it was still on the loom. Emperor: “What on Earth! I can’t see a thing! This is appalling! Am I stupid? Am I unfit to be Emperor? This is the most horrible thing I can imagine happening to me!” Narrator: But all he said was: Emperor: “Oh, it’s very beautiful” Narrator: He wasn't about to say that he couldn’t see a thing.

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