The World of Fairy Tales. The Ultramarine Book / Мир волшебных сказок. Синяя книга. Книга для чтения на английском языке - стр. 2

The next day the swallow came to say goodbye to Thumbelina.

He was going to fly away for winter. The grateful swallow invited Thumbelina to come to Africa with him. Thumbelina didn't hesitate and happily climbed on his back.

The swallow spread his wings and they lifted high into the sky to begin their journey. They journeyed for several days and nights over beautiful countryside and finally arrived at a land full of tiny people just like Thumbelina.

It wasn't long before a handsome prince met Thumbelina and asked her to marry him.

They all lived happily ever after!

Once upon a time there was an Emperor who was fond of clothes. It was terrible but he was ready to spend all his money on different suits. He didn't care about his friends, his kingdom or his family. He liked clothes so much that he changed them every hour of the day

One day two con men arrived in the capital of his kingdom. They told people that they were weavers and promised to make beautiful clothes. They weren't ordinary dressmakers. They claimed that their clothes were invisible to everyone that was stupid or foolish.

One of the emperor's ministers heard this news and told the Emperor about these marvellous clothes. The Emperor couldn't resist trying on these clothes. He was ready to pay a lot of money to the weavers. The weavers pretended to work on the clothes but their looms had nothing on them.

Some time passed and the minister came to look at these mysterious clothes but he couldn't see them. Of course, it was impossible for him to admit to the Emperor that he could not see anything. Soon the Emperor wanted to see the new clothes for himself. He invited the weavers to bring the new clothes to the palace.

The weavers held the clothes up before him but he couldn't see anything. The Emperor didn't wish to seem stupid in front of his people so he pretended he could see the clothes.

The weavers asked the Emperor if he would like to try the new clothes on.

He didn't have any choice but to put these mysterious clothes on.

His ministers complimented him on how lovely and colourful the clothes looked. They didn't want to admit that they couldn't see anything.

It was time to introduce his new suit to the people of his kingdom.

A great procession went along the streets of the capital to show off his new clothes. The proud Emperor walked at the head of this strange procession feeling very proud of his new clothes.

The crowd started to whisper and laugh but nobody dared to tell the Emperor that he was naked. Suddenly a small innocent boy shouted, «Look, the Emperor is naked!»