英语睡前故事：37 - The Princess and the Pea

故事原文：

“The Princess and The Pea


Ever since the prince was a young boy, he knew he wanted to marry a princess. While many beautiful ladies lived in the kingdom, few claimed to be princesses, and even fewer really were princesses. Frankly there weren’t any princesses in his kingdom at all.
This meant the prince had to travel.




He traveled near and far, high and low, but still no princesses. A lot of ladies wore crowns for decoration but that didn’t make them princesses. A lot of ladies had fancy long dresses, but that didn’t make them princesses. How am I supposed to know if a princess is real? the prince wondered, rather discouraged about it all. Weary from the search, he came home.”


“The night he arrived home, there was a terrible storm. In the midst of the thunder and lightning someone banged loudly at the city gate. The old king went to open the gate and there stood a princess. She was drenched and matted, but insisted in a gentle tone that she was indeed a princess, and asked if the king would be so kind as to let her in.
The queen doubted the girl’s story. But being a real queen and therefore having a charitable spirit, she invited the “princess” in to dry off and spend the night. While no one was looking the queen put a tiny pea under the bottom mattress. She then placed thirty additional mattresses on top of the pea, followed by a tower of feather pillows.
“Here, dear,” said the old queen. “Sleep tight.”
In the morning, the queen asked the “princess” how she slept. “May I be honest?” the princess asked the queen. The queen nodded, suddenly interested in what she had to say.
“It was awful!” the princess said. “I hardly slept at all! There was something hard and rock-like under my mattresses, and now I am bruised all over.”


“The prince ran in when he heard the news, followed by the old king. “She must be a real princess,” exclaimed the prince. “No other person would be so sensitive to the world as to be wounded by a pea buried under thirty mattresses (and a host of feather pillows).”
Happily, the prince took the princess for his wife, and the pea was placed in a royal gallery, where it may still be seen.
—HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN”


Excerpt From
365 Bedtime Stories
Christine Allison