The Real Princess

by Hans Christian Andersen

　　

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There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must bea _real_ Princess. He travelled right round the world to find one, butthere was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, butwhether they were real princesses he had great difficulty indiscovering; there was always something which was not quite right aboutthem. So at last he had to come home again, and he was very sad becausehe wanted a real princess so badly. One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightened andthe rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night. In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and theold King himself went to open it. It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible statefrom the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and herclothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but shesaid that she was a real princess. 'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but shesaid nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off andlaid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piledthem on the top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on the top ofthe mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. Inthe morning they asked her how she had slept. 'Oh terribly badly!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyesthe whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lyingupon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning.It is terrible!' They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt thepea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a realprincess could have such a delicate skin. So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he hadfound a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it maystill be seen if no one has stolen it. Now this is a true story.

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