fairytale variations

[deird1]

Discovered this evening that, despite having grown up in the same house, my sisters and I have heard different versions of The Princess and the Pea – and had no idea that the other version existed.

In my sisters' version, the queen tests the girl to find out if she's princess material, by placing a pea underneath umpteen mattresses and finding out if she can detect the pea through the mattresses or not.
And the girl, who is princess material, does indeed detect the pea. And marries the prince! Hurrah!

In my version, the queen still tests the girl. But the girl can't feel the pea under the thousands of mattresses, because, let's face it, that's pretty much impossible.
But the servants (or animals, or the prince's sneaky little sister, depending on the version) like the girl. They think she's nice! So they sneak in and tell her all about the queen's plan – and in the morning, the girl makes sure to complain about how badly she slept, thus proving with her awesome pea-detection skills that she's princess material. (Although, actually, she's just princess material because she's so darn nice.)

My sisters had never heard of a version where the girl got help with detecting the pea. And I, although having heard versions with a whole bunch of different groups of people helping the girl, had never heard of a version where she didn't get help at all.

Weird, huh?

So – show of hands? Who's heard of which version? And has anyone heard of both?

Comments

From Wikipedia :

[petzipellepingo]

In the more popular versions of the tale, only one pea is used. However, Charles Boner added in two more peas in his translation of the story upon which Andersen based his tale. Other differences amongst versions can be seen in various amounts of mattresses as well as feather beds.

Versions of the story differ based on whether or not the character of the helper is included. The helper, in some cases, tells the princess to pretend as though she slept badly. However, in other versions, the helper doesn’t appear at all, and the princess decides to lie all on her own

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/princesspea/history.html

[elisi]

I have never heard your version before! Like, ever, in any book...

[snowpuppies]

Only ever heard the version where she gets help! Who on Earth could feel that?

[next_to_normal]

I've heard both versions - the "no help" version as the fairy tale, and the helpers version as the plot of the musical Once Upon a Mattress. Except instead of telling her about the test, they just stick all kinds of crap in her bed (like pots and pans and other extremely lumpy things), so she really doesn't sleep all night.

[brin_bellway]

I like your version better, but I've never heard it before.

[alexseanchai]

I've heard both. I hate the one your sisters heard, because it supports the queen's appalling assumption that a woman's (or at least a princess's) worth is in having such tender skin that it's possible to feel the damn pea. The version you heard, the assumption's still there and everybody's cooperating with it, but the story shows that the assumption's false.

[fenchurch]

I'd actually heard both... the first one when I was really, really young (probably because it's a simpler story to tell) and then I came across the second when I was a bit older, but still a child.

[eilowyn1]

Never heard your version, but I think I like yours better!

[snickfic]

I think maybe I've heard the one about the people helping this princess, but only once. I've always heard the other variation, where she actually feels the pea.

[velvetwhip]

I have never heard the version where she gets help.


Gabrielle

[slaymesoftly]

I've never heard of the princess getting any help. Ever! She's a princess because she's so sensitive! (or something....)

[vass]

The version I heard, she got no help, she was just sensitive.

What only occurred to me right this minute: if I were a well brought up girl auditioning to be a princess, and the bed was uncomfortable, no WAY would I complain to the queen about it. Because that's RUDE, and besides, I'd be afraid of her. In what society is it considered a mark of good breeding to tell your host you couldn't sleep because the bed was too lumpy?

[shehasathree]

Yes, this.
(Also: if she *can* feel the pea, she totally has fibromyalgia and/or some other pain-sensitisation condition.)

[rahirah]

I have vague recollections of both, plus the Once Upon A Mattress version (where allies of the princess hide lumpy things in the mattress to keep her awake.)

[red_satin_doll]

I also heard both but your sister's version was the one I found most often in fairy-tale books. Which is kind of a creepy story once I gave it 30 seconds thought.

[korafox]

I only remember reading the version where she gets help. Also as I recall, the queen's motivation was not to make sure the girl was "princess" material, but to create an impossible test so that this random girl her son had found wouldn't get to marry him.

[libco.livejournal.com]

I've only heard the so-sensitive version

[lliira]

I've only ever heard the first version. I've never heard any in which the girl got help at all.

Thinking about it, the only way it works for me is if the prince is the one who helps her. Why is the prince always such a nonentity in these things? (Rhetorical question.)

[dr_carrot]

I have only ever heard the version where she can feel the pea...which left me feeling sorry for the princess because it would suck to be that delicate, and as a light sleeper I feel for her! Also clearly no one ever taught her to be a polite house guest, and just claim she slept well!