The Princess and the Pea

Anderson, Hans Christian. (1872) The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson. World Library.

Hans Christian Anderson wrote many fairy tales that are now traditional children's literature. The Princess and the Pea is no exception. Like many other fairy tales this is great to use in elementary and middle school when teaching fairy tales. The classic tale begins with a young prince searching for a real princess. One day a woman shows up at his door and claims to be a real princess, even though she has been stuck out in the rain and is drenched from head to toe. The prince's mother must prove that the girl is a real princess and so she sticks a pea under a mattress and then covers the mattress with 20 more mattresses. The next morning they ask the girl how she slept. She claims that she slept horribly and something kept poking her all night. The prince's mother knows that she is a real princess because only real princesses are sensitive enough to feel that pea. And so, the prince and the princess get married.