the real princess by hans christian andersen

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. It was a Princess who was standing outside the door. All at once there was heard a violent knocking at the door, and the King, the Prince’s father, went out himself to open it. 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. At last he returned to his palace quite cast down, because he wished so much to have a real Princess for his wife. 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. He travelled all over the world in hopes of finding such a lady but there was always something wrong. So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.There was once a Prince who wished to marry a Princess but then she must be a real Princess. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin. They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds.

I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. 'I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. In the morning they asked her how she had slept. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. She went into the bedroom, took all the bedclothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on the top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on the top of the mattresses. 'Well we shall soon see if that is true,' thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess. It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself went to open it. One evening there was a terrible storm it thundered and lightened and the rain poured down in torrents indeed it was a fearful night.

So at last he had to come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.

There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering there was always something which was not quite right about them.

He travelled right round the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a _real_ Princess.

The real princess by hans christian andersen