Skip to main content

Wise Words Wednesday is a Story

Stitched tag : Theme "All Stitched Up' - The Emperor's New Clothes
Hand stitched calico& metal embellishment
Instead of just wise words this Wednesday.. here is a favourite story. "The Emperor's New Clothes"
 A vain Emperor who cares about nothing except wearing and displaying clothes hires two swindlers who promise him the finest, best suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". The Emperor's ministers cannot see the clothing themselves, but pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions and the Emperor does the same. Finally the swindlers report that the suit is finished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk play along with the pretence not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. Then a child in the crowd, too young to understand the desirability of keeping up the pretence, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is taken up by others. The Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues the procession. from  Wikipedia
Moral of the story - Always tell the truth? Look before you leap? Those with authority are not always right?

Comments

  1. I love this story too. When I read it to kids, I always asked them what they thought it meant.Gosh!! I wish I had recorded all their answers.
    I think it's more about POWER than anything.Those in POWER get to call the shots, and the public usually just fall in line and say what is "PC", or what those in power want to hear.
    It takes a very brave person to make a "stand".

    ReplyDelete
  2. thanks Judy - great comment on this story - it does take a brave person to stand out from the crowd.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Too Precious to Waste

 Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons  More than a year ago, a decision was made.  The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2]  A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as wrapping str

May I Present Mrs Chalumeau...

Finally Mrs Chalumeau takes a bow …She is a Pearly Queen … 695 buttons on the doll and 10 on the journal.(I think – could be more). I would like to thank Paula from Antiques and Collectables here in Hamilton, Newcastle and Raku Buttons ETSY seller for supplying me with about 500 of the vintage mother of pearl buttons, and the rest I had in my stash. I think they look great on my pearly queen, but I am truly tired of sewing on buttons. It made me think however, how many buttons must be on the elaborate clothes of the real pearly Kings and Queens! I drew my inspiration from the lovely lady pictured here, and the following description from Wikipedia. ... A Pearly King ( feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's wealth. .... This doll is all cloth – a little different from most of my other dolls which generally h