The Princess and the Pea - Andersen's Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale "The Princess and the Pea"

Once upon a time, there was a prince who was searching for a real princess to marry. Despite his efforts to find one all over the world, he could not find a princess who met his expectations. He felt disappointed and sad as he was longing for a true princess to be his life partner. "There must be a true princess out there somewhere," he thought to himself.

One stormy evening, there was a knock on the city gate. The old king went to answer it and was surprised to find a princess standing outside, completely drenched from the rain. "Please, can I come in and find shelter from the storm?" she asked. The old king welcomed her in, but he was still unsure whether she was a real princess.

The old queen came up with a plan to test whether the princess was a true princess or not. She removed all the bedding from the bedstead and placed a tiny pea on the bottom. Then, she piled twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and then another twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. The princess had to sleep on top of all of these layers.

The next morning, the queen asked the princess how she had slept. The princess replied, "Oh, terribly! I could barely close my eyes all night. I felt like I was lying on something hard, and my entire body is bruised and sore. It was a horrible experience!"

The queen knew that the princess must be a true princess because only someone with such sensitivity could feel a pea through all those layers of bedding. "We have finally found a real princess!" she exclaimed.

The prince was overjoyed and asked the princess to marry him. She said yes, and they were married soon after. "I knew you were a real princess from the moment I saw you," he said. "I am so happy to have found you."

And so, the prince and the princess were married. The pea was put on display in the museum, where it can still be seen today, if it has not been stolen. "That's a true story," the storyteller said, with a smile on their face.

The Story of "The Princess and the Pea"
- Andersen's Fairy Tale -

The Moral Lesson of "The Princess and the Pea"

The moral lesson of "The Princess and the Pea" is often interpreted as a reminder to always love, share, and care about even the smallest things in life. True nobility is not based on external factors such as wealth, status or appearance, but on inner qualities such as sensitivity, kindness, and grace.

The story highlights the importance of paying attention to small details and not underestimating the power of empathy and compassion. It also emphasizes the idea that being different from the norm is not necessarily a weakness, but can be a strength and a mark of distinction.