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ENGLISH

1. Read ‘The Princess and the Pea’ by Hans Christian

Anderson

Read the story in your head and then practise reading it

out loud. Can you read with good expression?

2. Answer Princess and the Pea Questions

Read and answer the Princess and the Pea Questions in

your book or on the sheet.

Check the answers.

If you can, discuss any wrong answers with an adult. Can

you see what went wrong?

The Princess and the Pea

by Hans Christian Anderson (written in 1835)

Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a

princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all

over the world to find one but nowhere could he find what he

wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find

out whether they were real ones. There was always something about

them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was

sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.

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One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it. It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! What a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her. And yet she said that she was a real princess. Well, we’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses. On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept. “Oh, very badly!” said she. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!” Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds. Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that. So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it. There, that is a true story.

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Answer these questions about the story, in sentences

where you can.

1. What had the prince done to find a princess?

2. Why was the prince left sad?

3. Find some phrases which show how bad the

storm was.

4. Where was the knocking sound coming from?

5. Why wasn’t the king sure that this was a real

princess?

6. Describe the test that the queen set up.

7. What did the princess say that made the others

sure that she was a princess?

8. What happened to the prince?

9. What happened to the pea?

10. Do you think this is really a true story?

Why/why not? Explain your answer.

11. What genre (type) of story would you say this is?

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Possible Answers to The Princess and the Pea Questions

1.What had the prince done to find a princess?

The prince had travelled all over the world to find a princess.

2. Why was the prince left sad?

The prince was sad because he couldn’t find a princess and he

wanted to very much.

3. Find and copy some phrases show how bad the storm was.

Poured down in torrents, terrible storm, thunder and lightning

4. Where was the knocking sound coming from?

The knocking sound was coming from the city gate.

5. Why wasn’t the king sure that this was a real princess?

The king was not sure that she was a real princess because of the

way that she looked, she was soaking wet and had water pouring

down her.

6. Describe the test that the queen set up?

The queen put a single pea at he bottom of a bed and piled up

twenty mattresses and twenty eiderdowns on top of it.

7.What did the princess say that made the others sure that she was a

princess?

The princess said that she had not slept well, because something

was making her uncomfortable.

8. What happened to the prince?

The prince married the princess.

9. What happened to the pea?

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The pea was put into a museum.

10. Do you think this is really a true story? Why/why not?

Even though it says that it is a true story, this story has no names or dates, so I do not think it is really true. I also do not think it is a true story because I know that people cannot feel peas through lots of mattresses and princesses are not more sensitive to feeling things than other people. 10. What genre would you say this story is?

Fairy tale. Hans Christian Anderson wrote many famous fairy tales.

Scroll down for more activities

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ENGLISH The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Anderson

3. Create a Story board of the story – use words and pictures to tell the story in six parts.

1 2 3

4 5 6

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English. Speech in a story.

1. Re read the story of the Princess and the Pea.

Practise reading aloud the parts where a

character is talking.

There have been many versions written of this story.

Children’s author Lauren Child has created one.

2 Look at Lauren Child’s illustration ‘The Garden Scene’

below, showing the prince and his parents.

Write into the speech bubbles what you think the

characters might be saying. (maybe you can cut out

some more speech bubbles and create several different

conversations!)

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2. Now look at the following scenes from the story.

Jot down some ideas about what the characters

are saying to each other.

3. Now write these conversations as direct speech.

Look at the checklist below to remind you how to

write and punctuate direct speech.

Direct speech checklist

Inverted commas/speech marks “ “ go around

the words that are being spoken.

Direct speech begins with a capital letter.

Punctuation – comma exclamation or question

mark only goes before the inverted comma.

A reporting clause explains who was speaking.

New speaker starts on a new line.

“The dog is outside!” shouted Mrs Frost.

“OK, I’ll let him in,” called Mr Frost.

If the reporting clause comes first, it is followed

by a comma:

Harriet said, “She is a lovely dog!”

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English Direct Speech

1. Remind yourself of the rules for writing direct speech.

Below are some examples of speech taken from Lauren

Child’s retell of The Princess and the Pea.

2. Rewrite them correctly, putting in the punctuation and

following the rules for direct speech.

1. I’ll go and answer the door then grumbled the King.

2. I wonder who it could be at this time of night he went on.

3. I must tell Hobbs to oil the lock he said as he turned

the key.

4. Oh! he exclaimed as the door swung open Who are you?

5. I’m a very wet and very cold princess answered the princess. 6. Who was hoping that she might, just maybe might, come in from the cold she hinted.

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7. Well said the King you really must. 8. That’s very kind of you said the Princess. 9. You’re really sure it’s OK? she questioned. 10. I am very wet she said, pointing out the obvious.

ANSWERS Check how you have done :

1. “I’ll go and answer the door then,” grumbled the King.

2. “I wonder who it could be at this time of night.” he went on.

3. “I must tell Hobbs to oil the lock,” he said, as he

turned the key.

4. “Oh!” he exclaimed, as the door swung open, “Who are you?”

5. “I’m a very wet and very cold princess,” answered the princess.

6. “Who was hoping that she might, just maybe might, come in from the cold,” she hinted.

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7. “Well,” said the King, “you really must.” 8. “That’s very kind of you,” said the Princess. 9. “You’re really sure it’s OK?” she questioned. 10. “I am very wet,” she said, pointing out the obvious.

ENGLISH – writing

Rewrite your version of the story of The Princess and the Pea.

Use the storyboard you made as your plan. Make sure your story

includes some direct speech - perhaps you could use the

conversations you made up earlier.

Before you start, think about the main characters and what they are

like – this could help you include some interesting vocabulary in your

story. Use some interesting verbs and adverbs.

REMEMBER TO EDIT YOUR WRITING AFTER!

regal

fearless

handsome

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Extra Ideas…..

Writing – write another version of the story. This story is

very old – maybe you can write a modern version or

change the characters…….

Pretend to be one of the characters and write a

letter to one of the others.

Create a model to tell this story…

Maybe you could use lego or playmobile if you have

it. Maybe you could make playdough or clay

models or cut them out of card – or you could make

puppets. Use a box to create the castle. How would

you make the bed? Tell the story with your model,

maybe you could film it?

Ask an adult to help you research other versions of

this story. There are two versions below. Which do

you prefer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waw0U9tKpW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPytbUghpJM