Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805 – August 4, 1875) was a Danish author and poet most famous for his fairy tales.
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Before you read the story do a vocabulary activity that practises some of the difficult words in the text. After you have read do a comprehension activity and another vocabulary activity that tests some of the words in the story. Finally, do some writing yourself and see some texts written by other readers.
Once there was a Prince who lived in a wealthy kingdom. When he had reached the proper age his mother the queen decided the time was right to find a bride. The prince however was determined not to marry just any girl, and decided that only a "real" princess would do for his future wife should. Therefore he set off to travel through all the world to find her, and although he searched in all the kingdoms and met with all the princesses it didn’t quite go right. There were many Princesses, but how was he to know whether they were real? There was something not quite right about them all. Eventually he came home again unsatisfied and unhappy, because he wanted to have a real Princess so much.
Then one night a terrible storm blew in. The rain poured down and the lightning was so bright that it lit up the palace as though it were daytime and the thunder was so loud that it set all the palace dogs to howling. In the middle of the storm there was a knocking at the palace door. The old King went to open it, and who should be there but a girl claiming to be a true Princess. She was a terrible sight with her hair all over the place and her clothes soaked through, but she was invited in to stay for the night.
The old Queen didn’t believe for a minute that she was a real Princess and so she decided to test the young girl's claim. Without saying a word to anyone she went into the guest bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a single pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then she laid twenty eiderdown quilts on top of the mattresses. On this the Princess had to sleep all night. The next morning when the girl woke up, the Queen asked how she had slept.
"Oh, very poorly!" she said. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, and now I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"
They could see she was a real Princess without a single doubt because only a true Princess could have such delicate skin as to feel a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty more quilts.
So the Prince decided to marry her immediately, because he knew he had found a real Princess.
THE END
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Which do you think is the best moral for this story?
- You can't judge a book by its cover
- If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
- Beauty is only skin deep.
Explain why you think so and send your reason(s) to us.
This story was written a long time ago. Rewrite the story, putting it in a modern context, i.e. the prince could be a rock star. Send it to us.
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Eric Ramirez Rodriguez writes “The best moral for this story is “You can't judge a book by its cover”. Despite the fact that she was a terrible sight and nobody believed her that she was a real princess, she passed the test.”
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Modern day Princess and the Pea
Once there was a businessman who lived in a wealthy city. When he had reached the proper age his mother the owner's company decided the time was right to find a bride. The businessman however was determined not to marry just any girl, and decided that only a "real" woman (no plastic surgeries) would do for his future wife. Therefore he set off to travel through all the world to find her, and although he searched in all the cities and met lots of women it didn’t quite go right. There were many women, but how was he to know whether they were real? There was something not quite right about them all. Eventually he came home again unsatisfied and unhappy, because he wanted to have a real woman so much.
Then one night a terrible storm blew in. The rain poured down and the lightning was so bright that it lit up the house as though it were daytime and the thunder was so loud that it set all the house dogs to howling. In the middle of the storm there was a knocking at the house door. The businessman’s father went to open it, and who should be there but a girl claiming to be a true woman. She was a terrible sight with her hair all over the place and her clothes soaked through, but she was invited in to stay for the night.
The businessman’s mother didn’t believe for a minute that she was a real woman and so she decided to test the young girl's claim. Without saying a word to anyone she went into the guest bedroom, took all the bedding off the bed, and laid a single pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then she laid twenty eiderdown quilts on top of the mattresses. On this the woman had to sleep all night. The next morning when the girl woke up, the businessman’s mother asked how she had slept.
"Oh, very poorly!" she said. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, and now I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!"
They could see she was a real woman without a single plastic surgery because only a true woman could have such delicate skin as to feel a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty more quilts.
So the businessman decided to marry her immediately, because he knew he had found a real woman.
Eric Ramirez Rodriguez
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Navaho writes “I choose 'Beauty Is Only Skin Deep'. The end of the story really made me confused - a real princess was only judged by how delicate her skin was. I think all the princesses the prince had met had that delicate skin, but he didn't have the chance to let them lie on 20 mattresses with a pea under them.”
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Satish Kumar Sharma writes “The moral of this story goes to choice 1: that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover because the title is most alluring. So keep your self vigilant and go ahead …”
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Zhou, Hong (Christina) writes "Actually, all of the three choices are reasonable because the story can be understood from different aspects.
But personally, I agree with choice A. I think there are too many specious humans and things in the society. Just like a book which is assembled delicately and may have an alluring title. All these things are done by the booksellers to attract readers to buy their books. But when you've bought it you find it is not worth reading.
I think what the story tells us is a beautiful outside doesn't mean a good inside. To avoid being cheated, we must be self-vigilant at all times. We should adopt all sorts of ways of distinguishing which is good or bad".
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Annie writes "I think that the best moral for the story "The Princess and the Pea" is "You can't judge a book by its cover" because in the story the prince can't only look at the girl's face and think she is the real princess".
Eva Dembacaj writes “I think the moral of the story is you can't judge a book from its cover. She didn't look like a real princess but she was”.
Nazifa Salam writes “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again because the moral of this story tells you he wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess and he couldn't find, he tried a lot, finally he found a real princess”.
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