The Princess and the Pea
“The Princess and the Pea” is a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1835 as one of his first original stories. It tells of a prince searching for a true princess, who is finally found by means of a single pea hidden under twenty mattresses — only a real princess’s skin would be that sensitive. The story is only a few hundred words long, yet it became world famous.
Long ago, there lived a prince who wanted to marry a real princess. He traveled to many lands, but he could not find even one.
One night, a terrible storm burst over the land, with thunder rumbling loudly. Someone was knocking hard on the palace gate.
A servant opened the door and saw a girl standing outside, soaked from head to toe, with rain dripping from her hair and dress. She looked at everyone and said, "I am a real princess".
The queen looked at the girl and wondered: was she really a princess? She thought of a clever plan to test whether the girl was a real princess.
The queen slipped quietly into the bedroom and placed one tiny pea on the bed board. Then she piled twenty soft, fluffy quilts on top of the pea.
The princess lay down on the bed, but all night she could not sleep comfortably. She tossed and turned, feeling something hard pressing against her.
The next morning, the princess said she had not slept at all, as if something had been pressing against her skin. The queen laughed with joy and said, "Only a real princess could feel that pea".
