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. 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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