This literary fairy tale was written under the influence of two masters of the literary fairy tales. From Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince I borrowed the vision of a statue that speaks, that sees, that suffers, and that holds a mirror to the follies of humankind. From Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes I took the theme of pride exposed and stripped bare, the comedy and cruelty that follow when vanity is revealed before the eyes of the crowd.

Yet while Wilde’s prince sacrifices himself in radiant compassion, and Andersen’s emperor becomes the butt of a child’s laughter, my soldier Thomas remains caught in his own arrogance. He is clothed, unclothed, and clothed again, but never learns to clothe his heart in humility. And so the tale ends not with redemption, but with silence: the punishment of being ignored, which may be sharper than mockery itself.

In combining Wilde’s melancholy splendour with Andersen’s sharp satire, I sought to tell a modern fairy tale that lingers between cruelty and comedy, between beauty and shame, and between the desire to be admired and the need to be loved.