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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that "The Princess and The Pea" is a stupid story?

43 replies

melpomene · 12/05/2009 20:10

So, the moral is, if you:

(a) are extremely sensitive and fussy about your own physical comfort, and

(b) complain to your host about small imperfections, instead of being tactful and polite

then this means that you are special and deserve to marry a handsome prince and live happily ever after.

Somehow I cannot imagine the princess from this story living "happily ever after". If she's that sensitive to a pea under 20 mattresses, then how will she react when the honeymoon is over and the prince starts hogging the duvet or leaving the toilet seat up?

OP posts:

PaulaYatesBiggestFan · 12/05/2009 20:55

adorable

PortBlacksandResident · 12/05/2009 20:59

Agree about dodgy story - who would want to marry this prince or the one from the wild swans (you can't talk and are weaving nettles - you must be a witch i'll have you executed Oh! wait - you're not a witch - will you marry me?) or indeed the one from Rumpelstiltskin (i'll behead you if you can't spin this straw into gold, oh wait a minute you can??? Oh! will you marry me?).

But i love Arthur Rackham and this is beautiful

nametaken · 12/05/2009 21:00

Why can't I have a bed like that

oldspeckledtam · 12/05/2009 21:13

I always liked the story. My mum once changed my brother's bedding and discovered a Mug under his mattress. When she pointed this out to him and asked him why he hadn't noticed the lump in his bed he replied, "Who do you think I am? The Princess with the pea?"
He has never lived it down.

Botbot · 15/05/2009 21:24

I used to play 'Princess and Pea' with my little brother, which basically involved making him curl up into a ball on my bed, piling duvets and pillows on him and jumping on him very hard. I was the princess, and he was the pea. Quite sadistic really.

Overmydeadbody · 15/05/2009 21:26

lol

YANBU

AnarchyAunt · 15/05/2009 21:27

The Paper Bag Princess is the perfect antidote

Overmydeadbody · 15/05/2009 21:28

Port I coveted a bed like that as a child

Ninkynork · 15/05/2009 21:34

This is the classic Princess and Pea picture. When I am rich I will buy all these wonderful drawings.

Songbird · 15/05/2009 21:49

I bought this for my friend. She is sooooooo sensitive we always said she was like the princess and the pea. This version is really gorgeous, but I MUST HAVE THAT RACKHAM PRINT!!! I've go a lovely fairy print of his - I love him.

Songbird · 15/05/2009 21:54

Oh, that Rackham painting might be by Edmund Dulac. Apparently they are similar. Have googled as I really want that print

Makeda · 15/05/2009 21:58

LOOOOOOOOOOVED the Paper Bag Princess - brilliant story.

My Grannie used to explain that the Princess and the Pea was about not judging appearances - all the other princesses were dressed up in finery but the one he married arrived wet through and dressed like a beggar-girl (ie real princess on the inside). Agree that the whole 'sensitive woman, rude to hosts who take her in from the cold' angle is pretty yuk.

hellzapoppin · 15/05/2009 22:01

The Mini Grey version is fab. The Stupid Queen's dogged pursuit of convention ensures her son ends up with a commoner! She only realises what he's married into on the last page. Brilliant!

Paula- we have that game - did you find that the aesthetic appeal far outstrips the appeal of the actual board game in it?!

SallyJayGorce · 15/05/2009 22:02

I always welcome guests with a twenty feather down mattresses piled over a small pea. What's odd about that?

SallyJayGorce · 15/05/2009 22:03

PaulaYates - we have a game of it too. With a small wooden green pea. Our DCs love it but I have to say it wears a bit thin for me. ooh! Perhaps I am a real princess!

hereidrawtheline · 15/05/2009 22:08

oh I really love this story - I want a great book of these sorts of stories for DS. I got one for him but it is brothers grimm and too gory. Can anyone recommend a great collection for me? I love that ladybird print! I'd have that in a heartbeat!

kirkbuddie · 17/12/2017 04:13

I thought that the princess and the pea was about getting to the root problem and not using other things to cover up your mistakes, I've sleep on the floor before out camping and if you don't remove every late thing on the ground to be comfortable, you could use more blankets under neath you but some times this doesn't work strangly enough you can still feel them under 8 blankets but i could be wrong?

Spangles1963 · 17/12/2017 18:20

A couple of years ago,my DD said I was like the princess in 'The Princess and the Pea' because I complained that I couldn't sleep comfortably if there was so much as a single crumb in the bed. It's true. When I saw a PP's remark about how she spent the night sleeping on a hairbrush,I was . I used to drive my exP mad,by getting in bed,settling down,then getting up again to brush a crumb off the sheet. I think I must have exceedingly sensitive skin.

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