The Princess and the Pea

このストーリーについて

The Princess and the Pea is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, first published in Copenhagen in 1835 in his very first booklet of fairy tales. Andersen said it was a story he had heard as a child. This retelling keeps the storm, the twenty mattresses and the pea in the museum, and adds a long-suffering royal butler and a princess who is honest even when it's awkward.

読み聞かせのコツ

• Stack cushions on the sofa, hide a pea underneath, and see who can feel it.
• Count the mattresses together as Higgins piles them up.
• Ask your child: what makes someone a real princess, or a real friend?

よくある質問

What is the moral of The Princess and the Pea?

True nature shows itself, whatever someone looks like on the outside. Many readers also see Andersen gently poking fun at royal fussiness.

How many mattresses are in The Princess and the Pea?

Twenty mattresses, with twenty eiderdown quilts piled on top, all over a single pea. The princess still feels it and wakes up black and blue.

Who wrote The Princess and the Pea?

Hans Christian Andersen, who published it in 1835 in his first collection, Fairy Tales Told for Children. He said he had heard the story as a child.