About the Story of the Princess and the Pea
The story of the Princess and the Pea is considered one of the shortest stories or tales written by Hans Christian Andersen. It is a fantasy story for children. Some wanted to remove this fantasy story because it reflects some things related to the nineteenth century - things with sensitivity toward girls and women of the aristocratic classes - but the story has a deeper meaning than what the eye sees superficially. The Princess and the Pea is among the exciting stories and can create an atmosphere of questions, including simple questions like: Who do you belong to and how will I know this? One way of looking at fantasy stories is in how each character can be seen as a part of the hidden self.
The Princess and the Pea
The story tells that once there was a prince who was a solitary person. He traveled around the entire world to find someone like himself, and to be the suitable princess to share his life with. But he knew she had to be a solitary princess to share with the solitary prince.
When he wandered among his many travels and saw many princesses, they told him that this princess was solitary like him. She had the appropriate lineage and origin. But there always seemed to be something not quite right with each of them. Then people started talking that he was looking for something and at the same time didn’t want to find it, to the point that they laughed at this prince behind closed doors. Finally, the prince returned to his home because he had fallen into a state of despair, but inside he wanted that princess very much. When he told them about the princess, the old king and queen welcomed him to live with them in their home.
Then another summer passed and autumn came, and leaves fell from the trees. Then a strong storm blew one night from the sea. The prince was sitting warming himself by the fire and reading. Lightning increased more and more, and thunder shook the windows until the windows almost broke.
After hours of the night had passed, the storm began to break until it reached midnight. Suddenly, silence prevailed, and the storm stopped. Then a strange knocking sound was heard at the city gate. The knocking wasn’t annoying, but there was persistence. The townspeople and the king’s men rubbed their eyes and wondered who could be making this sound like the previous storm. The king sent a messenger to the city gate.
Standing at the gates was a princess, but she was in a terrible and miserable state. Rain had fallen on all her hair and clothes. The water had destroyed her shoes, and her heels were worn out outside the shoes. When she said she was a princess, the messenger laughed loudly. But despite this, she swore she was the true princess.
The old queen spoke calmly and said: “We’ll see soon if this is true or not.” She gave the princess a warm dinner and brought her some clean clothes. Then the old queen went to prepare a bedroom for the princess to rest in. First, she removed all the bed mattress, then placed a single pea in the middle of the mattress. After that, she asked for twenty mattresses and placed them on top of the pea, arranging them one on top of another. Finally, she placed twenty feather pillows on the mattresses, and then the princess’s sleeping arrangements were made.
In the morning, the old king and queen met the princess when she woke up. But when they saw the princess, she looked worse than when she arrived at the house. They asked how she had slept. The princess said: “Oh, the sleep was very bad!” She was extremely tired. She said she had barely closed her eyes all night. She didn’t know what this bed was and why it seemed strange. It seemed as if the princess were lying on a small hard stone. Because of this, her whole body was black and blue the next morning. The night was truly terrible! The princess began to cry.
When the old queen saw this, she knew immediately that this must be the true princess. Only a true princess could feel the presence of a pea even with twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds on top. The prince asked the princess to be his wife, confident that he had found a true and truly suitable princess for them. The prince traveled around the world again, but this time the princess was with him, and they were very happy. As for the pea? It was placed in the city museum and is visited by many people from many countries. It might still be there if no one stole it.
The Moral of the Story
The girl’s poor appearance and being soiled by the storm caused the royal family to find it difficult to believe her story and what had happened because of her appearance. The queen decided to test the girl and discover if she was the true princess by placing a small pea in her bed, which consisted of 20 mattresses and 20 feather pillows. The prince was looking for a true princess with a true and suitable lineage to marry happily so they could live in eternal happiness. Some other morals of this fantasy story depend on first impressions not always being correct and that the smallest things can make a big difference.