The Princess and the Pea
Hans Christian Andersen · 4 min · ages 3-8
A prince has travelled the whole world looking for a real princess. Then one stormy night, somebody knocks at the castle gate.
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Once upon a time there was a prince who lived in a beautiful castle high up in the clouds. He wanted very much to be married, but it had to be to a real princess.
He travelled all over the world to find her. He looked everywhere, but every time he met a princess, there was something that did not quite add up. There were plenty of princesses, but he could never be quite sure whether they were the real thing. There was always something that felt wrong. So he went home again, feeling rather sad, because he wanted it so very much.
One evening a terrible storm broke. The lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and the rain came pouring down. It was dreadful weather!
Suddenly there was a knock at the great gate of the castle. The old king went to open it.
Outside stood a princess. But goodness me, what a sight she was! The rain and the wind had left her soaked right through. The water ran down her hair and her clothes, and her shoes squelched when she walked. And yet she looked at the king and said: “I am a real princess.”
“We shall soon find out about that,” thought the old queen, but she did not say a word out loud.
She went into the bedroom, took off all the bedclothes, and laid one tiny little pea right at the very bottom of the bed. On top of the pea she laid twenty thick mattresses, and on top of those she laid twenty lovely soft quilts.
This was where the princess was to sleep.
The next morning, when they were sitting at the breakfast table, they asked her whether she had slept well.
“No, not at all!” said the princess. “I have hardly closed my eyes all night. I have no idea what was in that bed, but I have been lying on something hard. I ache all over. It has been a dreadful night.”
Then they knew that she was a real princess. Because you would certainly have to be delicate to feel one little pea through twenty mattresses and twenty quilts. Nobody but a real princess could ever be as fine as that.
The prince married her, because now he knew that he had found exactly the right one. And the pea? It was put in a museum, where you can still see it to this day - if nobody has taken it, that is.
About this story
The Princess and the Pea is one of Hans Christian Andersen's best-loved fairy tales, first published in 1835. It follows a prince who searches the whole world for a real princess, and the drenched stranger who knocks at the castle gate one stormy night. With the old queen's cunning test - one small pea beneath twenty mattresses and twenty quilts - the traveller proves she is genuine. A short, charming tale about not judging anybody by how they look when they arrive.
Themes
- Princesses
- Fairy tales
- Kindness
Chapters
- The prince who wanted a real princess
- A stormy night
- The knock at the gate
- The queen's test
- The next morning
- A real princess after all