The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen wrote a preface to the story, claiming to have heard it in his childhood, but it is not a traditional Danish fairy tale. The pea, the author tells us, is placed in a special Royal museum, where it can still be seen to this very day, unless someone has removed it. So the two are married, and live happily ever after. 'They could see that she was a real princess, as she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather-beds.' The prince, of course, is overjoyed at such clear proof of her pedigree, for, The young woman doesn't get a wink of sleep, and complains the next morning that something hard in the bed had kept her awake. His mother cunningly tested whether she was telling the truth by placing a single pea in the bed they offered the young woman for the night, covering it with twenty mattresses and twenty feather-beds. She claimed to be a real princess, but the prince was dubious. One stormy night a young woman, soaked to the skin with rain, asked for shelter in the prince's castle. So he came home very put out, for he did long for a real princess.' 'He couldn't quite tell there was always something that didn't feel right. They cannot truly be princesses, he thinks, because they are not perfect, He suspects that all the candidates are imposters. In the story, a prince is having difficulty finding a suitable wife. Charles Boner was the first to translate The Princess and the Pea into English, as 'The Princess on the Peas' in 'A Danish Story-Book' in 1846.

Really it is a one-idea story, in which an obviously ridiculous situation is contrived, to test whether a princess is truly a princess. The original is quite short, and clearly satirical and tongue in cheek. The Princess and the Pea is a famous story from 1835, by Hans Christian Andersen, which has been adapted and retold numerous times.

The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen