The following tales are similar to the Emperor's New Clothes fairy tale, AT-1620: Emperor's New Clothes. Since Andersen's tale is an original story written by him, it does not have directly related tales in folklore. However, the tale is very similar to AT-1406: The Merry Wives' Wager in which one of the characters is tricked into believing he is wearing clothing when he isn't. Scholars believe Andersen based his version of the tale on a Spanish tale he had read.

I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the Emperor's New Clothes story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.

The Believing Husbands *
The Gown in the Bathhouse
The Merry Wives *
Now I Should Laugh, If I Were Not Dead
Sgire Mo Chealag *
Stupid Men and Shrewish Wives
The Two Husbands
The Two Old Women’s Bet
Which Was the Foolishest? *

* Full text of tale is available online.

The Believing Husbands

A web version of this tale can be found at The Believing Husbands.

This tale is AT-1406 and comes from Scotland.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. The Lilac Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1968. (Original published 1910.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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The Gown in the Bathhouse

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Bushnaq, Inea, ed. and trans. Arab Folktales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. p. 334.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

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The Merry Wives

A web version of this tale can be found at The Merry Wives.

This tale is AT-1406 and comes from Denmark.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. The Pink Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1967. (Original published 1897.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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Now I Should Laugh, If I Were Not Dead

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Clarkson, Atelia, and Cross, Gilbert, B., eds. World Folktales: A Scribner Resource Collection. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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Sgire Mo Chealag, The Tale of

A web version of this tale can be found at The Tale of Sgire Mo Chealag.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Campbell, J. F. Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected. London: Alexander Gardner, 1890-1893. (Reprint available from Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1969.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback (Volume 1) or paperback (Volume 2).

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Stupid Men and Shrewish Wives

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Christiansen, Reidar, ed. Folktales of Norway. Pat Shaw Iversen, translator. Folktales of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964. p. 206.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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The Two Husbands

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Noy, Dov, ed Folktales of Israel. Gene Baharav, translator. Folktales of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

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The Two Old Women’s Bet

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-1406.

An English language version is available in:

Cole, Joanna, ed. Best-Loved Folktales of the World. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1982.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

Chase, Richard, ed. Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover or paperback.

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Which Was the Foolishest?

A web version of this tale can be found at Which Was the Foolishest?

This tale is AT-1406 and comes from Iceland.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. The Brown Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1965. (Original published 1904.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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