Contemporary story
Off

The Princess and the Pea

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.

Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.

On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.

"Oh, very badly!" said she. "I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"

Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.

Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.

So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.

There, that is a true story.

Options

Introducing your ereader mobile app!

Manybooks

Get The Best Reading Experience

App linkApp link

Rate this story:

Average: 3.5 (11 votes)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/29/2004 - 14:25

Permalink

Im sorry but doesnt anyone realise that this story comes straight out of a Walt Disneys Story book. Please look it up! It was Mickey and Minnie! It thought stories published here where original. I guess I was wrong!

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/18/2005 - 09:57

Permalink

it was good

Submitted by admin on Mon, 11/07/2005 - 11:12

Permalink

I like this story, because I thougt a personality again. If I wanna be someone, I should know the someone everthing. I do not only know the someone everthing but also feel something same as the someone. But this story was a little difficult for children.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 02/21/2006 - 19:17

Permalink

the celing would have to be very high for all of those matricesses and what ever the heck those elder-down beds are. The pea would have to be frozen solid or something because with all that weight it would be squashed. Great story though I remember this story when I was a kid.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/03/2006 - 00:04

Permalink

Im trying to figure out the moral of the story for my nephew. So I see two and would like to hear what you think....
(1) Parents want a genuine mate for their child or..
(2) True love is finding a genuine heart...

Submitted by admin on Mon, 05/08/2006 - 13:53

Permalink

This story has always made me wonder what twenty eider-down beds are. Anyway, Im a fan of The Princess and The Pea because she felt the Pea through the beds and the prince likes sensitive women like I do. JK It really doesnt mean a thing to me and I didnt learn a lesson from it. Thanks anyway. You did your best.
P.S. It wasnt sleek or sexy

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.