THE REAL PRINCESS

THE REAL PRINCESS

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 in hopes of finding such a lady; but

there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in

plenty; but whether they were real Princesses it was

impossible for him to decide, for now one thing, now

another, seemed to him not quite right about the ladies.

At last he returned to his palace quite cast down, because

he wished so much to have a real Princess for his wife.

One evening a fearful tempest arose, it thundered and

lightened, and the rain poured down from the sky in

torrents: besides, it was as dark as pitch. All at once there

was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the old

King, the Prince’s father, went out himself to open it.

It was a Princess who was standing outside the door.

What with the rain and the wind, 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.

‘Ah! we shall soon see that!’ thought the old Queenmother;

however, she said not a word of what she was

going to do; but went quietly into the bedroom, took all

the bed-clothes off the bed, and put three little peas on the

bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon

another over the three peas, and put twenty feather beds

over the mattresses.

Upon this bed the Princess was to pass the night.

The next morning she was asked how she had slept.

‘Oh, very badly indeed!’ she replied. ‘I have scarcely

closed my eyes the whole night through. I do not know

what was in my bed, but I had something hard under me,

and am all over black and blue. It has hurt me so much!’

Now it was plain that the lady must be a real Princess,

since she had been able to feel the three little peas through

the twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. None but a

real Princess could have had such a delicate sense of

feeling.

The Prince accordingly made her his wife; being now

convinced that he had found a real Princess. The three

peas were however put into the cabinet of curiosities,

where they are still to be seen, provided they are not lost.

Wasn’t this a lady of real delicacy?