by Hans Christian Andersen
Do you know the fairy tale? Order the pictures, following the story lines from 1 to 9.
1. Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. One evening a terrible storm came on. Suddenly a knocking was heard and the old king went to open the gate.
2. It was a princess standing out there. The water ran down from her hair and clothes. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
3. “We’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen.
4. But she said nothing, went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom.
5. Then, they took the guest to her room.
6. In the morning the princess was asked how she had slept. She said that she had scarcely closed her eyes all night since there was something hard in that bed, so that she was black and blue all over her body.
7. Now the Queen knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
8. Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
9. 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.
Based on the The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen (Prindsessen Paa Ærten, 1835), translated into English by Charles Boner and Caroline Peachey. Illustrations courtesy to Ladybird edition.