The Princess and the Pea

In the folk tale The Princess and the Pea, the Princess randomly shows up at the Prince’s door. I chose to focus on the point of view of the Princess herself as to how she managed to end up on his doorstep and then lead into the actual folk tale...

Marriage. It was something that my father and mother stressed greatly. And not just with anyone. It had to be with someone of wealth and power, more specifically, a prince. See, I am the youngest of three sisters, and we are princesses. It was only custom to marry a prince, so that we may someday become his queen.

News had been traveling around that a prince was looking for a princess’ hand in marriage. My sisters and I had heard about Prince Henry and were all very excited to meet him as he traveled the world in search of a princess to wed. The excitement, however, turned into jealousy and caused many feuds between us. We all wished to be married, but I very well knew that since I was the youngest, my parents would only offer the oldest to wed.

As time went on, the Prince had still not visited our area. Then a message came that the Prince was so deterred by the lack of real princesses he had encountered, that he had headed back home. He was to take a break from his search.

In an effort to marry off my eldest sister, my parents planned a trip to the Prince’s home. They were certain that if the Prince met her, they would fall in love and they would wed. I, however, believed that I would be a more perfect choice, but had a hard time convincing my parent’s of that. They believed a prince by the name of Nathaniel would be my future husband.

Two nights before my parents and sister were to leave to Prince Henry’s, I decided to take matters into my own hands. My desire to be Henry’s princess had convinced me enough that I should venture to his castle alone so that he could meet me before my sister. If he just met me, he was sure to realize that I was his future wife. It would be quite the hike, but I was willing to make it for the prince.

I walked all night, only stopping to sleep, and even well into the afternoon until I finally reached his castle gates. I was exhausted, hungry, and not looking my best. My clothes were dirty, torn, my hair was ratted. It was then that I began to feel nervous. No one would believe that I was a princess by my appearance. Suddenly, it began to downpour and a terrible storm grew near. My desire to get out of the rain, outweighed my butterflies, and I knocked at the castle gate. To my surprise, the King himself answered.

“My dear, you are soaking wet!” said the King. I stood shivering.

“What are you doing standing out here in the rain, young lady?” asked the King. I figured that if I had any chance of entering the castle and getting out of the rain, I better tell him who I was.

“I am a Princess, and I have traveled all this way to marry your son. May I please come in?”

The Queen then walked up. The King told her of my presence. She whispered something in his ear and then motioned me inside the gate.

**The went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept.

'Oh terribly bad!' said the princess. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!'

They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

**actual folk tale