THE REAL PRINCESS

There was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess; but then she must be a

real Princess. He travelled all over the world in hopes of finding such a

lady; but there was always something wrong. Princesses he found in plenty; but

whether they were real Princesses it was impossible for him to decide, for now

one thing, now another, seemed to him not quite right about the ladies. At

last he returned to his palace quite cast down, because he wished so much to

have a real Princess for his wife.

One evening a fearful tempest arose, it thundered and lightened, and the rain

poured down from the sky in torrents: besides, it was as dark as pitch. All at

once there was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the old King, the

Prince's father, went out himself to open it.

It was a Princess who was standing outside the door. What with the rain and

the wind, she was in a sad condition; the water trickled down from her hair,

and her clothes clung to her body. She said she was a real Princess.

"Ah! we shall soon see that!" thought the old Queen-mother; however, she said

not a word of what she was going to do; but went quietly into the bedroom,

took all the bed-clothes off the bed, and put three little peas on the

bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon another over the three

peas, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses.

Upon this bed the Princess was to pass the night.

The next morning she was asked how she had slept. "Oh, very badly indeed!" she

replied. "I have scarcely closed my eyes the whole night through. I do not

know what was in my bed, but I had something hard under me, and am all over

black and blue. It has hurt me so much!"

Now it was plain that the lady must be a real Princess, since she had been

able to feel the three little peas through the twenty mattresses and twenty

feather beds. None but a real Princess could have had such a delicate sense of

feeling.

The Prince accordingly made her his wife; being now convinced that he had

found a real Princess. The three peas were however put into the cabinet of

curiosities, where they are still to be seen, provided they are not lost.

Wasn't this a lady of real delicacy?

豌豆公主

从前有一位王子，他想找一位公主结婚，但她必须是一位真正的公主。

他走遍了全世界，想要寻到这样的一位公主。可是无论他到什么地方，他总是碰到一些障碍。公主倒有的是，不过他没有办法断定她们究竟是不是真正的公主。她们总是有些地方不大对头。

结果，他只好回家来，心中很不快活，因为他是那么渴望着得到一位真正的公主。

有一天晚上，忽然起了一阵可怕的暴风雨。天空在掣电，在打雷，在下着大雨。这真有点使人害怕！

这时，有人在敲门，老国王就走过去开门。

站在城外的是一位公主。可是，天哪！经过了风吹雨打之后，她的样子是多么难看啊！水沿着她的头发和衣服向下面流，流进鞋尖，又从脚跟流出来。

她说她是一个真正的公主。

“是的，这点我们马上就可以考查出来。”老皇后心里想，可是她什么也没说。她走进卧房，把所有的被褥都搬开，在床榻上放了一粒豌豆。于是她取出二十床垫子，把它们压在豌豆上。随后，她又在这些垫子上放了二十床鸭绒被。

这位公主夜里就睡在这些东西上面。

早晨大家问她昨晚睡得怎样。

“啊，不舒服极了！”公主说，“我差不多整夜没合上眼！天晓得我床上有件什么东西？我睡到一块很硬的东西上面，弄得我全身发青发紫，这真怕人！”

现在大家就看出来了。她是一位真正的公主，因为压在这二十床垫子和二十床鸭绒被下面的一粒豌豆，她居然还能感觉得出来。除了真正的公主以外，任何人都不会有这么嫩的皮肤的。

因此那位王子就选她为妻子了，因为现在他知道他得到了一位真正的公主。这粒豌豆因此也就被送进了博物馆，如果没有人把它拿走的话，人们现在还可以在那儿看到它呢。

请注意，这是一个真的故事。

（１８３５）