The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen

Finally, twenty feather beds were added on top of the mattresses. Next, she called for twenty mattresses and piled them, one on top of the other, on the pea. Then, she placed a single pea in the center of the bedstead. The princess was given a warm dinner and some dry clothes while the Old Queen set off to prepare a sleeping chamber for the princess. 'We'll see soon enough if that is true,' whispered the Old Queen softly to herself. Still, she swore she was a real princess. She claimed she was a princess, and the advisor all but laughed aloud. It overflowed her shoes and ran out the heels. Rain poured from her hair and her clothes. There stood a princess, but she was in a terrible state. The Old King himself sent his advisor to the town gate. The townspeople and courtiers rubbed their eyes and wondered who could have been out in such a storm.

An eerie knock was heard at the town gate. At midnight, a calm fell as suddenly as the storm itself had arrived. As the prince sat by the fire reading, lightning drew closer and closer and thunder rattled the windows until it seemed sure they'd break. The Old King and Queen welcomed him home.Īnother summer passed and the leaves were falling from the trees when, one evening, a terrible storm blew in from the sea. At last, the prince returned home in despair he wanted a princess so badly. Behind closed doors, they even snickered. People started to say that he was looking for something that he did not want to find. Each had the proper pedigree and credentials, but there always seemed to be something not quite right about each one. In his travels, he found many princesses. But this he knew: She must be a real princess. He traveled around the world to find someone like himself, a proper princess to share his life. There was once a prince, a lonely prince. The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen retold by XineAnn