ONCE upon a time there was
a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a
real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but
nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough,
but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There
was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he
came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to
have a real princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and
lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking
was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But,
good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look.
The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the
toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that
she was a real princess.
“Well, we’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen. But she
said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the
bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty
mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds
on top of the mattresses. |