Fairy Tales

THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a prince. He wanted a princess, but she had to be a real princess. He traveled all around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were enough princesses, but he couldn’t quite find out if they were real—there was always something that wasn’t quite right. So he came home again and was very sad because he wanted a real princess so very much.

One evening there was a terrible storm. There was lightning and thunder. Rain was pouring down, and it was quite frightening. Then someone knocked at the town gates, and the old king went to open them.

There was a princess standing out there. But what a sight she was in the rain and terrible weather! Water was streaming from her hair and clothes, and it ran in at the toe of her shoes and out at the heel. She said she was a real princess.

“Well, we will find out about that!” thought the old queen, but she didn’t say anything. She went into the bedroom, took off all the sheets and blankets, and placed a pea on the bed-spring. Then she laid twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and on the mattresses she placed twenty down comforters.

The princess was to sleep there for the night.

In the morning they asked her how she had slept.

“Oh, just terribly!” said the princess. “I almost didn’t close my eyes the whole night! God knows what could have been in the bed? I was lying on something hard, so I am completely black and blue all over my body. It’s quite dreadful!”

So they knew that she was a real princess since she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty down comforters. Only a real princess could have such sensitive skin.

The prince married her because he knew that now he had a real princess, and the pea was displayed in the art museum, where it can still be seen if no one has taken it.

See, that was a real story!