Fairytale: The pea and the princess - Writers Forum

Xonia · 09-08-2005, 08:46 AM

This is an assessment for school... I had to write the fairytale "The princess and the pea" from a different perspective - I choose the pea's.

The pea and the princess
Once upon a time...
there was pea who wished to discover the strange, bright world that he had glimpsed upon several years before - when with a loud crashing and creaking sound the doors of his prison had opened and something huge, something so frightful that he had shivered and shaken for a long time after, had reached in to hover above his rigid body, only to disappear again several seconds later. When he had shared this heroic plan with his friends - the small, porcelain teacup with a missing ear; the family Salt and Pepper; the rusty spoon and her husband the bent knife - they had laughed and ridiculed him so fervently, that by now his hope of escape had almost diminished and the long, monotonous hours seemed even lengthier and duller than before.

However, on one certain evening, without warning and without notice, the walls of the small confinement suddenly started shaking ferociously. All the inhabitants of the empty and particularly dusty cupboard trembled with fear, but not our brave, little pea. No, on the contrary: his heart was not filled with anxiety, but rather with a strange sense of apprehension and excitement. And when the doors finally opened and he was blinded by the brilliant light he had only seen once before, he blissfully whispered: ‘I knew it! I knew it!’ Then something closed around him, something warm and moist and peculiarly soft, and he was picked up... was flying... felt the air brushing against his rough skin... and was put down again on a hard, uncomfortable surface. He blinked with his eyes, trying to discern something of this new environment. His heart beat fast, faster than it ever had before. So this was what it meant to be alive!

Then suddenly the light disappeared and something soft, yet heavy landed on top of the pea, pressing him tightly into the surface beneath him. Overwhelmed by poignant feelings of disappointment and exasperation, he tried desperately to regain his newly won freedom by wriggling his body in every position imaginable. However, with every passing second, the weight pressing down upon him seemed to increase and increase even further, till he couldn’t possibly take it anymore. With a long, tired sigh he closed his eyes and cursed the day that he had wished to escape from his former insipid, yet oh so wonderfully safe life.

Many hours later, the unconscious pea awoke by a muffled moan and the alleviating sensation that he could finally breath again. When he opened his eyes, he gazed right into a huge face with a huge nose and huge blue eyes that stared back at him. Red, lush lips started moving and a high-pitched noise resounded in his ears, filling his head with obnoxious, sullen words.

‘Oh, did I not feel it tormenting me so severely tonight? I told you, my Prince, that I did not sleep well! A pea, it was. A simple, yet agonizing pea!’

Another voice now, calm and reassuring:

‘Shush, my love. I have no doubt that it must have been a gruesome experience for you, and I do lament the anguish you apparently have endured, but it has not been futile. Oh no, on the contrary. For now, darling, I truly believe you to be a Real Princess - for to feel a single pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds is indeed a sign of blessed delicacy!’

And so the Prince found his Princess and the pea became famous, finally living the life he had alway wished for...

Chris Miller · 09-09-2005, 02:26 PM

Hey, you picked one of my favorite fairytales. Looking at it today, I almost see it as a chastisement of the privleged class.

Your slant on it was cute, and well done. Clever.

I myself, might have taken the POV of either the Prince or the top mattress.

Neat idea.

Xonia · 09-09-2005, 07:42 PM

Hi Chris!

I also really like the original fairytale because it says so much about royalty, their aditudes and especially their absurd norms and values.

Thank you for the compliment. I took the pea's POV because I thought it'd be something different than the obvious perspective of the Prince or Princess. Top mattress would also have been fun, I agree.

Once again, thanks!

gohn67 · 09-10-2005, 05:18 PM

Hey Xonia,
Clever idea, choosing to write the story from the pea's POV. You did a nice job with it too. I always wondered what is was like for the pea, being crushed under so many matresses.

Haruka · 09-10-2005, 05:56 PM

I laughed so much with this, thank you!

It's very well written too, maybe you really should do one of the matresses POV too

Great job.

thedarkboots · 09-10-2005, 06:45 PM

I agree with everyone else. Good idea to write it from the 'mind' of the pea. Different, original spin on an age old story.

Xonia · 09-11-2005, 03:48 AM

Thanks everyone!! And maybe I will write it from the matresses POV, some time. Haha.