The Princess and the Pea: Meaning, Summary and Andersen's Real Sources

The Princess and the Pea (1835) by Hans Christian Andersen is a very short tale about a prince who wants to marry a "real" princess. One stormy night, a soaked young woman arrives claiming to be one. The queen tests her by placing a single pea under twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdown quilts. In the morning, the girl complains she barely slept because something hard bruised her black and blue. Only a true princess could be so sensitive, so the prince marries her, and the pea is placed in a museum, where Andersen jokes it can still be seen, "if no one has taken it."

Its meaning is usually read in two ways: as a fairy tale about inner nobility recognized through a test, or as a satire of royal fussiness and snobbery.

Story Summary

1. A prince travels the world searching for a real princess. He meets many, but there's always something not quite right.
2. He returns home sad.
3. On a terrible stormy night, someone knocks at the city gate. It's a princess, drenched, with water streaming from her hair and running in at the toes of her shoes and out at the heels.
4. The old queen says nothing, but secretly places a pea on the bed frame, then piles twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdown quilts on top.
5. In the morning, the princess says she hardly slept: something hard in the bed has bruised her all over.
6. Now they know she's a real princess. Nobody but a real princess could be so delicate.
7. The prince marries her, and the pea goes to the royal museum.

Andersen ends by saying it's a true story.

Where Did Andersen Get It?

Andersen said he heard the story as a child. Scholars note that the exact pea test isn't common in Danish folk tradition, but similar Swedish tales exist, such as one in which a girl is tested with peas under her bedding and a helpful animal tells her about the test so she can pretend to feel it. Folklorists classify these tales as ATU 704, "The Princess and the Pea."

In some folk versions, the heroine isn't especially sensitive at all; she's clever, or she's warned by a pet. Andersen's version, where she genuinely feels the pea, is more absurd.

What Does The Princess and the Pea Mean?

Interpretation 1: True nobility shows

The tale suggests that inner nature reveals itself. Even soaked and bedraggled, a real princess can't hide who she is. It's a common fairy tale idea: identity is revealed through a test (compare Cinderella's slipper in the original Cinderella story).

Interpretation 2: Satire of the upper classes

Many readers find the story comic. A woman proves she's royalty by complaining that a single pea under forty layers of bedding ruined her night. Andersen, who rose from poverty and moved in aristocratic circles, may be gently mocking the oversensitivity and pickiness of the privileged.

Interpretation 3: Sensitivity as a virtue

Some modern readers see the tale as affirming people who feel things deeply and notice what others miss. The phrase "princess and the pea" is used today, sometimes affectionately, sometimes mockingly, for someone highly sensitive to small discomforts.

Why Is the Story So Short?

It's one of Andersen's earliest tales, published in his first booklet of fairy tales in 1835. Early critics complained that it was not only trivial but improper, because a girl traveling alone at night to a strange house seemed inappropriate. Andersen kept writing in his conversational, playful voice anyway, and readers loved it.

Adaptations

• Once Upon a Mattress (1959), a Broadway musical comedy that retells the story from the princess's point of view.
• Countless picture books, many of which exaggerate the stack of mattresses into a towering comic image.

Lessons for Writers

The story shows how a single concrete, absurd detail (one pea under forty layers) can make a story unforgettable. It's also a lesson in comic timing and economy: the entire tale is only a few hundred words. If you want to write short pieces, see how to write a short story.

For more of Andersen's tales, explore our guide to Hans Christian Andersen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the moral of The Princess and the Pea?

Traditionally, that true nobility reveals itself. Many readers also see it as a gentle satire of royal oversensitivity.

How many mattresses are in The Princess and the Pea?

Twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdown quilts.

Who wrote The Princess and the Pea?

Hans Christian Andersen, first published in 1835.

Is The Princess and the Pea a folk tale?

Andersen said he heard it as a child. Similar folk tales exist in Sweden, classified as ATU 704.

What happened to the pea?

It was placed in the royal museum, where Andersen jokes it can still be seen unless someone has taken it.