The Real Princess 豌豆公主

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.

從前有一位王子，他想找一位公主結婚，但她必須是一位真正的公主。他走遍了全世界，想要尋到這樣的一位公主。可是無論他到什麼地方，他總是碰到一些障礙。公主倒有的是，不過他沒有辦法斷定她們究竟是不是真正的公主，她們好象總是有些地方不大對頭。結果，他只好回到自己的皇宮來，心中很不快活，因爲他是那麼渴望着得到一位真正的公主。
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.

有一天晚上，忽然起了一陣可怕的暴風雨。天空中風馳電掣，大雨傾盆而降，四周一片漆黑。就在這時，響起了一陣劇烈的敲門聲，老國王自己去開門。
　　



站在城外的是一位公主。可是，天哪！經過了風吹雨打之後，她的樣子是多麼難看啊！水沿着她的頭髮和向下面流，她的衣服粘在身上。她說她是真正的公主。
"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 a little pea on the bedstead. She then laid twenty mattresses one upon another over the
pea, and put twenty feather beds over the mattresses.
Upon this bed the Princess was to pass the night.

“是的，這點我們馬上就可以考查出來。”老皇后心裏想，可是她什麼也沒說。她靜靜地走進臥房，把所有的被褥都搬開，在牀榻上放了一粒豌豆。然後她取出二十牀墊子，把它們壓在豌豆上。隨後，她又在這些墊子上放了二十牀鴨絨被。
　　



這位公主夜裏就睡在這些東西上面。
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 little pea through the twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. None but a real Princess could have had such a delicate sense of feeling.
　　
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.　　


第二天早晨大家問她昨晚睡得怎樣。“啊，不舒服極了！”公主說，“我差不多整夜沒合上眼！天曉得我牀上有件什麼東西？我睡到一塊很硬的東西上面，弄得我全身發青發紫，這真怕人！”


 

;現在大家就看出來了。她是一位真正的公主，因爲壓在這二十牀墊子和二十牀鴨絨被下面的一粒豌豆，她居然還能感覺得出來。除了真正的公主以外，任何人都不會有這麼嫩的皮膚的。
　　


因此那位王子就選她爲妻子了，因爲現在他知道他得到了一位真正的公主。這粒豌豆因此也就被送進了博物館，如果沒有人把它拿走的話，人們現在還可以在那兒看到它呢。