The Pr incess and the Pea

Retold by Debbie CroftIllustrated by Richard Hoit

The Pr incess and the Pea

A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen

Retold by Debbie Croft

Illustrated by Richard Hoit

U.S. Edition © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

125 High StreetBoston, MA 02110www.hmhco.com

Text © 2020 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited

Illustrations © 2020 Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited

Originally published in Australia by Cengage Learning Australia

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner

unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should

be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Attn: Contracts, Copyrights, and Licensing, 9400 Southpark Center Loop,

Orlando, Florida 32819.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1957 24 23 22 21 20

9999999999 A B C D E

Text: Debbie Croft

Series consultant: Annette Smith

Publishing editor: Simone Calderwood

Editor: Rachel Day

Project editor: Annabel Smith

Designer: Chelsea Tremain

Series designers: James Lowe and Karen Mayo

Illustrations: Richard Hoit

Production controller: Renee Tome

Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd

The Princess and the Pea

ISBN 978 1 32 853905 2

2

Once upon a time, there was a Pr ince.

He wanted to marr y a pr incess,

but she had to be a real pr incess.

The Pr ince went from

one countr y to another,

looking for a real pr incess to mar r y.

He tr ied ver y hard.

He looked ever ywhere,

but he couldn’t f ind one.

3

4

The Pr ince was sad.

He came home again,

but he still wanted to mar r y a real pr incess.

“There are lots of pr incesses,”

he said to his parents, the King and Queen.

“But I don’t know if they are real pr incesses.

Ever y time I meet one,

there is always something about her

that is not as it should be.”

“You should marry a real princess,”

said the Queen sharply.

The King smiled at the Pr ince and said,

“I think that a real pr incess

would want to mar r y a pr ince like you.”

5

6

7

That night, there was a wild storm.

Lightning flashed across the sky,

and thunder rattled the windows

at the palace.

Rain was falling heavily.

Suddenly, the bell

at the palace gate rang loudly.

The King rushed out to unlock the gate.

To his surpr ise,

he saw a pr incess standing there!

She was shiver ing in the cold.

There was water running off her coat

and dr ipping down into her shoes.

8

9

“Please may I come inside?”

the Pr incess asked the King.

“It’s ver y cold out here,

and I’m wet from the storm.”

“Yes,” the King said.

“Quickly, come in out of the rain.”

“I wonder if this girl

is a real pr incess?”

the King said to himself.

“Maybe the Queen will know!”

10

The King took the Princess

into the palace

and sat her down by the f ire,

where she would be warm.

He looked at the Queen,

but she didn’t say anything.

She just smiled.

The Queen knew how to tell

if this girl was a real pr incess!

11

12

The Queen tiptoed upstairs to a bedroom.

She put a tiny pea on the bottom of the bed

where the Pr incess was going to sleep

that night.

Then, she lifted twenty thick mattresses

and put them carefully on top of the pea.

Next, she placed twenty of her best quilts

on top of the mattresses.

13

Later that night, the Pr incess,

who was ver y tired, went off to bed.

“Good night,” the Pr incess said

to the King and Queen,

“and thank you so much for letting me stay

in your lovely palace.”

14

The next morning at breakfast,

the Queen asked the Pr incess

how she had slept.

“Not ver y well,” said the Pr incess sadly.

“I felt as if I was lying on something ver y hard,

and now my body is black and blue!”

15

The Queen was ver y happy to hear this news.

“No one but a real pr incess would feel the pea

I placed under all those mattresses!”

she said with a smile.

16

All of a sudden, the rain stopped,

and the wind blew the storm clouds away.

The next year, the Pr ince marr ied the Pr incess,

and they lived happily ever after in the palace.

The Prince wants to marry a princess. But he can’t

find a real princess! One stormy night, someone

rings the bell at the palace gate. Could this be a

real princess?

Fairy Tale

Level J • 501 Words

1723233