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Hans Christian Andersen

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.

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Comments

it should not be all in 1 page. like atlest 3 pages max

Sat, 09/27/2008 - 19:47

it should not be all in 1 page. like atlest 3 pages max

i love it it gets to me in a good way .its a awsome..

Sat, 09/27/2008 - 19:51

i love it it gets to me in a good way .its a awsome feeling.even as a big reader no books have got to me. guess there something good about this

I think that story was guite good, but I didnt think that..

Thu, 10/02/2008 - 04:59

I think that story was guite good, but I didnt think that is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The story is very short

Thu, 10/02/2008 - 05:11

The story is very short

i thought that the story was really boring. my opion is..

Tue, 10/07/2008 - 05:53

i thought that the story was really boring.

my opion is that it was very boring because it needed more detail and to make it more intresting by making it longer.

i thought that some parts where bad and some parts are good

amber
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i reallly liked this story i thought it wasd really good..

Tue, 10/14/2008 - 05:53

i reallly liked this story i thought it wasd really good and thought i might read this again.

what i liked about this story:

i liked this story because i thought it had good detail and thought that they wrote the story really well

what i didnt like about this story

i liked every thing

This story is heavily inspired from one of the stories in..

Tue, 11/18/2008 - 05:30

This story is heavily inspired from one of the stories in an Indian book, which may be unfamiliar to most Western readers, Betal Pachisi (Twenty five tales of a vampire). The name of the story is Komal kaun.
Please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baital_Pachisi for more info.

i put this story in my book! it was so good

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 17:22

i put this story in my book! it was so good

Very boring Story. Its pointless.

Tue, 12/09/2008 - 05:30

Very boring Story. Its pointless.

This story is interesting. I think the princess is very..

Sat, 02/21/2009 - 21:32

This story is interesting.
I think the princess is very sensitive.
She feels a pea in the twenty mattresses! It`s unbelievable!

This story is so interesting. I think the princess is very..

Sat, 02/21/2009 - 21:38

This story is so interesting.
I think the princess is very sensitive.
She felt a pea in the twenty mattresses! It`s unbelievable!

This story rings very true for me. I was dating a man..

Sat, 03/07/2009 - 17:04

This story rings very true for me. I was dating a man after a torrent had drenched me. I hadnt told him my tale of woe. But he was the first man to recognize my royal heritage and call me a Princess. My sensitivity made me pull away from him because I was afraid of being in a storm again! I only hope someday he will come and find me again...and I can become tougher skinned!!!!

This story can have a spiritual spin on it too. The..

Sun, 03/08/2009 - 21:32

This story can have a spiritual spin on it too. The Princess represents us in our vulnerable human condition. The King is the Heavenly Father opening the gate for us. The Queen represents the Holy Spirit testing our sensitivity. And the Prince is Jesus.
Bonnie Bester

Its quite short and things are somewhat impossible, how can..

Mon, 03/09/2009 - 01:33

Its quite short and things are somewhat impossible, how can the princess feel a single pea in all 20 mattresses? hahaha! but its still good, I love how the story goes...

Hope the author makes another version... a longer and more interesting...

Sincerely,
yOsHi~