The Princess and the Pea

There was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled all over the world with the hopes of finding such a lady, but there was always something wrong. At last, he returned to his palace quite cast down because he failed to find what he wanted.

One evening, when the rain poured down from the sky 'in torrents and it was as dark as pitch; all at once there was a violent knocking at the door. The old King, the Prince's father, went out himself to open it.

It was a beautiful young girl who was standing outside the door. She was in a sad condition. The water trickled down from her hair, and her clothes clung to her body. She said she was a real princess.

The old Queen mother, however, did not say anything. She went quietly into a bedroom, took all the bed clothes off the bed, and put three little peas on the bedstead. Then, she laid twenty mattresses one upon another over the three peas, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses. Upon this bed, the Princess passed the night.

The next morning as she was asked how she had slept, she said that she could not close her eyes the whole night through. She had something hard under her body that hurt her so much.

Now, it was clear that the lady must be a real Princess, since she had been able to feel the three little peas and only the real Princess who could have had such a delicate sense of feeling.

The Prince accordingly made her his wife as he convinced that he had found a real Princess.


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