Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess—she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! What a sight the rain and the wind had made her look! The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.
On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
“Oh, very badly!” she said. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It's horrible!”
Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
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.
【日积月累】
-torrent n. 激流，洪流
-good gracious 天啊
-bedstead n.（木质或金属的）床架
-mattress n. 褥垫，床垫
-eider-down n. 鸭的绒毛，鸭绒被
-black and blue青一块紫一块
【参考译文】
从前，有一个王子想娶一个公主——她必须是一个真正的公主。他走遍了全世界想找一个真正的公主，但是他找不到他想要的。公主多的是，但是却很难证明她们是不是真正的公主。总是有些事情不如意。所以他又回到了家，感到很伤心，因为他本该有一个真正的公主的。
一天傍晚，一场特大暴风雨来临了；雷电交加，大雨瓢泼而下。突然城门传来敲门声，老国王走过去开门。
门外站着的是一个公主。但是，天啊！大风大雨已经让她看起来多么糟糕啊！雨水顺着她的头发和衣服往下流进她的鞋子里，又从鞋跟处流了出来。但是她说她是一个真正的公主。
好吧，我们很快就会知道的，老王后心想。但是她什么都没说就走进了卧室，她把铺盖掀开在底下放了一颗豌豆；然后她在豌豆上铺了20床床垫，还在床垫上放了20床鸭绒被。
这个公主就在这样一张床上睡了一个晚上。早上有人问她晚上睡得怎样。
“噢，很糟糕！”她说。“我几乎整晚都没有合眼。天知道床上有什么，但是我躺在什么硬东西上，所以我全身都是青一块紫一块的。真是太恐怖了！”
现在，他们知道这是一个真正的公主了，因为即使隔着20床床垫和20床鸭绒被，她还是感觉到了那颗豌豆。
除了真正的公主没有人会那么敏感。
所以王子就娶了这位公主为妻，因为他知道这次他找到了一个真正的公主；而那颗豌豆则被放进了博物馆，现在仍然可以看到，如果没有人偷走的话。
【人生启迪】
虽然这个故事有点夸张，我们也不是要学习这个公主的娇气，但是公主的诚实却是值得我们学习的。如果这个公主不是那么诚实的话，那她就会失去这个如意郎君了。