The+Princess+and+the+Pea

=**The Princess and the Pea** = By Conner Jackson, Ryan Ogle, and Tara Woodward

===﻿Background=== The story of the Princess and the Pea comes from the Dutch author Hans Christian Anderson, who published it in 1835. The story starts off with a young prince who is searching the land for a "true" princess to marry. To no avail, he is unable to find one who he considers worthy of being a "true" princess until one rainy night when a young girl knocks on the castle walls claiming she is a "true" princess. The prince's mom and dad (queen and king) decide to test the girl by placing a single pea in the center of a mattress. Then, 20 more matresses are stacked on top of it, and the king and queen invite the young girl to sleep on top of them for the night, without telling her about the pea. The next day, the girl wakes up and complains about how bad she slept the night before. At this point, everyone knows that she is a "true" princess because she is so sensitive, and the prince decides to marry her.

Associated Stories
__The Most Sensitive Woman__ (Christian Schneller, Italy) __The Three Delicate Wives of Virtue-Banner: Who is the most delicate?__ (India) In each of these stories, the prince or king chooses to marry or love the lady they deem most sensitive or right for them.

Tip-offs
Many components of this story are used widely throughout literature. A few good universal symbols that come from this story include: - mattresses stacked on top of each other - "testing" a girl for beauty - using a pea for something other than to eat
 * -** an extremely sensitive woman who is then deemed to be a good candidate for a wife

Why is it important?
The story of the Princess and the Pea is a prime example of using one's own free will to find a companion that is most right that person. In this story's case, a prince looked all over the world in search of a girl that could say is a "true" princess. TV Shows such as the Bachelor would not be around today if it weren't for our society's desire to be able to find true love, and the Princess and the Pea is just another one of those stories that expresses such a desire.

Other references in popular culture
---Collector's edition Barbie DollsNumerous Broadway plays, as well as movies ---New adaptations of the story itself--



The Bachelor TV Show**AND--**the Bachelor Wii Game