The emperor is a vain, bankrupt megalomaniac. He wants to be the most beautiful person in the universe. He does not care about his starving people, instead he spends his taxes on having ever more magnificent clothes tailored for him. He takes no notice of his child and considers his ministers as servants existing to obey his commands. The only thing he still actively chases are moths as they threaten his most precious possessions. When the emperor finally catches the last surviving moth, his child's only friend, the child flees into the woods. The child finds two allies on its escape, two poor weavers set on teaching the emperor a lesson. Will they manage? Will the moth escape? 

Hans Christian Andersen's literary fairy tale from 1837 holds insights into the arbitrariness of power that are still valid today, teaching us that it always needs brave people daring to speak the truth.