Thursday, August 23, 2007

The Princess and the Pea: Completed


Here is a photo of my completed project.
Marion tells the stitcher at the end of her book the story that goes with the Princess and the Pea. I will be quoting Marion word for word in the following little story as I don't want to miss one single little detail.
Here it goes.
"The Princess and the Pea"
"Once upon a time there was a Prince who longed to marry a real princess. He searched all over the world to find her. There seemed to be plenty of Princesses but for one reason or another, the Prince could never be sure that they were, in truth, what he sought. Disconsolate, he returned to his castle. Slowly he grew paler and thinner, pining for a real Princess.
One evening there was a terrible storm. The wind blew, lightning slashed the sky, thunder crashed and rain lashed the countryside. Suddenly a knock was heard at the castle gate. The guards hurried to the gate, holding their lanterns high above their heads.
There at the gate stood a Princess. Rain had soaked her hair and streamed in rivers from her gown to her toes. But she was a Princess ... a real Princess ... she told the guards, and had become lost in the storm.
"A real Princess?" asked the Prince, in disbelief. "We must make sure," said his mother the Queen. She prepared a bed for the Princess, made with ten mattresses filled with the solftest eiderdown. Beneath the first mattress on the boards of the bed, the Queen placed one small dried pea. The Princess, unaware of this, climbed up to sleep on top of the feather mattresses. In the morning, everyone in the court gathered to hear the Queen ask her how she slept.
"I barely slept a wink," moaned the Princess. "I am bruised all over. My bones ache as if they were broken. There must have been some frightful object in my bed."
"She is indeed a real Princess," proclaimed the Queen. "No one but a real Princess could have such tender skin!"
The delight of the Prince knew no bounds. The Kind and Queen were well pleased. The Prince married her the very next day because now he knew she was a real Princess.
And the pea can be seen on a pedestal in the Royal museum to this very day."
Isn't it a sweet story?
Pierrette =^..^=

4 comments:

Terry said...

Really lovely and I look forward to seeing your choice of mount and frame

Rissa said...

It turned out just lovely! I know the story well, my friend's Danish mother used tell us the story as we slept under eiderdown comforters. :-D

Needlewoman said...

Beautiful stitching in a great pattern. I enjoy watching your progress on the beautiful pieces you stitch.

Anonymous said...

Pierette, This is lovely, and, thanks for posting the story. It has been a long time since I read it!
NCPat