The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea is a children's literally fairytale written by Hans Christian Anderson. The story is a in the danish language. The tale was first published in Copenhagen by C.A. Reitzel on May 8 1835. This was one of the most famous fairytales in the world, the more present versions of this story is more popular for children.

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a  real princess. He was so determined to fine love 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. So he came home from his travels very upset to find a young lady outside the gates of his castle standing in the pouring rain. It was thundering and lighting, the girl looks horrible from the rain, after a few minutes he let the girl in and she said he was a real princess.  

The Queen set up a bedroom for the princess and set up 20 mattresses with a little pea on the bottom. The Princess finally fell asleep after hours of tossing and turning. The next morning the Queen asked the princess how she slept and she responded “Oh, very badly!” said she. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!”. Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds. Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that. So the prince so very excited and took her in as his wife. Happy with his new wife,or now that  he knew that he had a real princess; they put the  pea in the museum, where it may still be seen by others.

Classroom Discussion:

1. Why do you think that the queen used that test to see if the girl was a young princess?
2. Why is the princess so desperate to find love?
3. How do you think that the young girl found the castle in the rain storm?

Classroom Activity:

1. Have the children make their own version of the princess and the pea by switching up the ending. It can have any type of ending they want 
2. Put the children in groups and have them act out the real versions of the story and some using alternative endings
3. Have the children put together the setting of the story using materials in the classroom. The main thing being the 20 mattresses', the pea, prince and princess
4. Make a chart using the 20 mattresses and stick stickers or crafts on them according to the number, to help the children learn how to count.

If you liked this book by Hans Christian Andersen check out this other books:

• The Snow Queen
• The Little Mermaid 
• The Jumper
• The Money-Box 
• A Leaf from Heaven 

Anderson, Hans Christian. "The Princess and the Pea." Hans Christian Andersen: The Princess and the Pea. C.A. Reitzel, 8 May 1835. Web. 23 July 2017.