In our last blog post we talked about the health benefits of knitting. Who knew that knitting is also the stuff of fairy tales?

You may be familiar with “The Princess and the Pea,” originally written in 1835 by Hans Christian Andersen. Below is the original tale as well as a modern adaption, which, yes, you guessed it, has knitting in it.

ENJOY!

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince who wanted to marry a princess: but she must be a real princess of blue blood. He met lots of princesses, but there was always something about them that was not as it should be. He was sad, and lonely.

“Princess and the Pea” - shawl (pattern by Lily Go) knitted in color WHEAT MEDLEY

One evening a terrible storm raged with thunder and lightning, a knocking was heard at the palace gate. A drenched girl stood there dripping from the rain, asking for shelter. She said that she was a real princess. “Well, we can easily test that out,” said the Queen. In the guest bed-room, the Queen had all the bedding removed, and then she laid a pea on the bottom. On top of the pea she laid twenty mattresses. On this the princess had to lie all night.

In the morning the Queen asked her how she had slept.

"Oh, I slept badly!" said she. "I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body!"

Now they knew that she was a real princess: only a princess could have felt the pea through the twenty mattresses. Nobody but a real princess could be so sensitive. So the prince took her for his wife, and they lived happily ever after.

Moral:

The Princess and the Pea is a fairytale warning the reader about the dangers of jumping to conclusions. The queen did not believe the sopping wet girl at the gate could be a princess. Alternatively, there was a lot of snobbery in the royal palace.

Rob’s 21st century re-write:

Here is the modern adaptation, inspired by Lily Go’s gorgeous shawl pattern Princess and the Pea. The sample shawl was knitted in our exquisitely soft cotton in color WHEAT MEDLEY by my friend Bitty.

The soaked and shivering girl was dried by the fire, given a change of clothes, warmed and fed. Then the Handsome Prince offered to show the Real Princess to her bedroom. She looked up in astonishment at the pile of twenty mattresses. Turning her simpering gaze on the Handsome Prince, she said: “What a strange place to store spare mattresses. I hope you are not suggesting I should climb up that ladder? I am not intending to sleep atop an unstable pile of 20 mattresses. You must have a better alternative?”

The Handsome Prince gazed into the eyes of the Real Princess. Then he took her by the hand and led her to his own bedroom, where they passed a sleepless but happy night together. In the morning the Real Princess awoke and sat up in bed. The Handsome Prince draped a wonderful golden beige shawl around her beautiful bare shoulders, which perfectly enhanced the green knitted pattern of the shawl. He told her the shawl had been knitted by Princess Lily Go, using a soft, color-changing yarn with the sexy country name Wheat Medley.

“Princess and the Pea” - shawl (pattern by Lily Go) knitted in Color Changing Cotton in color WHEAT MEDLEY, 2 x 100 gr skeins

“I love this golden beige color,” cried the Real Princess, “and the feel of this elegant shawl is wonderfully soft.”

The Handsome Prince looked at the attractive girl sitting on his bed, wearing only the Wheat Medley shawl. He looked at her lovingly, calling her “My Real and Beautiful Princess.”

“That’s me,” sighed the beautiful and happy girl. They were married the same week, and have been living happily ever since.

The first weekend after their wedding, the princess organized a garage sale with 19 mattresses on special offer at very generous prices.