100个儿童英语小故事: A Princess and the Green Pea 豌豆公主

 

059 A Princess and the Green Pea

A long time ago, there was a prince of a country. When he grew old enough to marry, he decided¹ to find a princess who was going to be his queen. So he started to travel all around the world.

The prince visited many countries and searched for a beautiful and kind princess, but no princess seemed good enough to be his bride. "There is no great princess in this world." He was disappointed and went back to his country spiritlessly.

One day, there was a frightening night of thunder, lightning, and very severe rainstorms. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door of the castle. "Who is it in the middle of this stormy night?" The king went out his room and opened the door by himself curiously². A girl in shabby clothes was standing³ in front of the door. Even though she looked tired from the severe rainstorm and the strong winds, she was beautiful and looked clever.

She was soaking⁴ wet with rain. "I am a princess of your neighboring country, but I got lost. Could you please let me stay in your castle tonight." She asked him politely. The king was surprised to hear that the shabby girl was a princess, and he allowed her to stay in his castle out of pity.

But the queen thought the girl was lying. 'Is the girl with those shabby clothes a princess? I am sure she is not a princess, but let her stay here with us tonight for the moment.'

The queen thought to herself like this and went into a guest's room. She took all the sheets off the bed, and put a grain of a green pea on the bed. Then, she covered the bed with twenty layers of blankets and another twenty layers of soft bird feather blankets. The girl fell asleep in that bed.

The next morning, the queen asked the girl, "Did you sleep well last night?" Then, she answered, "I appreciate your kindness, but there was something under the blankets. It hurt me so much I could hardly sleep last night."

The queen was surprised at what she heard, and she thought that the girl must be a great princess. If the girl was so sensitive that she could not sleep well because of a green pea even under many blankets and soft bird feather blankets, she must be a noble princess. They found the noble princess accidentally⁵. The prince was happy when he heard the story.

The prince made the princess his wife. The green pea was displayed in a museum. If someone had not taken the pea away, maybe we could have seen the pea in the museum.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 soaking   

v.浸，浸湿(soak的现在分词)；吸收，吸入adj.湿透的；浸透的n.浸湿，浸透adv.湿透地

参考例句：

• That coat is soaking—take it off. 上衣湿透了—脱下来吧。
• I tried to squeeze the water out of my soaking skirt. 我用力拧掉我那件湿透了的裙子上的水。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 accidentally   

adv.偶然地；意外地

参考例句：

• Mary accidentally let out that her mother had telephoned.玛丽无意中说出她的母亲来过电话。
• As I turned around,I accidentally hit him in the face.我转身时不经意撞了他的脸。