The Princes on the Pea By Hans Christian Andersen
There was once a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she was to be a real princess. So he travelled about, all through the world, to find a real one, but everywhere there was something in the way. There were princesses enough, but whether they were real princesses he could not quite make out: there was always something that did not seem quite right. So he came home again, and was quite sad: for he wished so much to have a real princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on. It lightened and thundered, the rain streamed down; it was quite fearful! Then there was a knocking at the town gate, and the old king went out to open it.
It was a princess who stood outside the gate. But, mercy! how she looked, from the rain and the rough weather! The water ran down from her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the points of her shoes, and out at the heels; and yet she declared that she was a real princess.
"Yes, we will soon find that out," thought the old queen.
But she said nothing, only went into the bedchamber, took all the bedding off, and put a pea on the flooring of the bedstead; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them upon the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds upon the mattresses. On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
"Oh, miserably!" said the princess. "I scarcely closed my eyes all night long. Goodness knows what was in my bed. I lay upon something hard, so that I am black and blue all over. It is quite dreadful!"
Now they saw that she was a real princess, for through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds she had felt the pea. No one but a real princess could be so delicate.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a true princess; and the pea was put in the museum, and it is there now, unless somebody has carried it off.
Look you, this is a true story.
Great Craft Creations
Surprise your loved ones with great craft creations, decorate your house, or make unique gifts...Did You Know?
If you need some dry material instantly you can use your microwave oven for making what you need. To dry herbs or flowers in the microwave oven instantly you will need SILICA GEL. Silica gel is a substance used to dry delicate flowers too, such as roses or calendula, as it preserves their forms and colors well. Silica gel can usually be found in craft stores.
It is very simple to dry flowers with a silica crystals, just use microwave safe container with a 1" (2,5 cm) thick layer of the silica crystals and place your flowers on the top allowing about 1-inch of space around the sides and between each flowers. Put another 1-inch layer on the top of flowers and then microwave on cca 50 % power for approximately 2-3 minutes, depending on the type of your microwave and flowers. It is better to check the material progress an add some more times if needed. Flowers and leaves often have different drying times, microwave them separately for better result.
Never use silica gel containers for preparing food after you use them for drying flowers, because they often absorbs pesticides from plants as they dry.