By feeling a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty quilts, a girl proves that she is a real princess.

Originally published in 1924, this collection The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen is illustrated with the magnificent Art Nouveau color illustrations of Kay Nielsen. It was a project that took Nielsen twelve years to complete, and his illustrations perfectly capture the other-worldly spirit of Andersen's subject matter. It includes such well-known and loved tales as "The Snow Queen," "The Real Princess," "The Hardy Tin Soldier" and "The Nightingale."...

"The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short tale by Hans Christian Andersen, about two con-men weavers who tell an emperor they can make him a new suit of clothes that is invisible to people who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent. Parading before his subjects in his new "clothes", no one is willing to admit to themselves or others that the emperor is essentially naked. When a child cries out, "But he isn't wearing anything at all!" the...