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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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Average: 3.5 (11 votes)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:32

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hi there me and my sistr liked this story. What was the princess name. and what was the peas name was the princess dress pink or purpule my favrite thing was it had a very cachy title

KIND REGARDS BENJMIN WHITE RUBY WHITE

Submitted by admin on Mon, 07/08/2013 - 12:58

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Nice

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/13/2014 - 02:21

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nyc story

Submitted by admin on Thu, 04/02/2015 - 02:06

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I LIKED IT BUT IT WOULD NOT BE A REAL STORY AND HOW WOULD THE PRINCESS FEEL THE PEA WHEN THE QUEENS SERVANTS PUT ON TWENTY MATTRESSES AND TWENTY EIDER-DOWN BEDS
THE PEA WOULD HAVE BEEN SQUASHED STRAIGHT AWAY SO HOW DID THE PRINCESS FEEL THE PEA THEN? BUT I DID LIKE THE STORY AND THAT WAS MY QUESTION.😕

Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/27/2015 - 22:34

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Nice

Submitted by admin on Tue, 06/28/2016 - 10:49

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its a beuti

Submitted by admin on Tue, 06/28/2016 - 10:50

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ITS AWESOME

Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/08/2016 - 14:05

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Amazing

Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/09/2016 - 11:02

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Nice story

Submitted by admin on Mon, 11/07/2016 - 07:39

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rate it! ahm..is it really a true story?? sana maging prinsesa din akoooo.. in my dreams.heheheh lovelots! Godbless to the author! i really love reading short stories and fables especially when it has a moral lesson..

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/30/2017 - 17:27

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I like this story but I think this story needs feelings My question is did the pea squash and it is not real or real this story is real I want the feelings how did they live and did they birth a child and they tried to find a princess for him and the girl did lied again and they live happy ever after

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