There once was a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real princess.

從前有個王子，他想要和一個名副其實的公主結婚。

He traveled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong.

他環遊世界找個真正的公主，但總是找不到。

There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses, he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something that was not quite right about them.

雖然有很多公主，但她們就是有些地方不太對，所以他還是很難確定他們是真正的公主，

So at last, he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly.

最後他再次回家卻一無所獲，他找不到一個名副其實的公主，所以感到很難過。

One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightened, and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night.

在一個可怕暴風雨的晚上，雷電交加、大雨傾盆而下，是個很可怕的夜晚。

In the middle of the storm, somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old king himself went to open it.

在暴風雨中有一個人敲了敲城門，老國王親自去開門。

It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm.

是一個公主站在門外，但她在暴風雨中淋成落湯雞了。

The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess.

雨水流過她的頭髮衣服，浸濕了她的高跟鞋，但她說她是個真正的公主。

"Well we shall soon see if that is true," thought the old queen, but she said nothing.

老皇后心裡想卻什麼也沒說：「我們很快就會知道她是不是真的了。」

She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead. then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses.

她進到房間，把所有床單拿開，放了一個碗豆在床架上，

This was where the princess was to sleep that night.

然後拿了二十個床墊堆在碗豆上面，再拿二十個羽絨被放在床墊上面。

In the morning, they asked her how she slept.

這就是公主晚上要睡的地方。

"Oh, terribly bad!", said the princess. "I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed."

早上他們就問公主睡得好嗎。

"I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!"

公主說：「喔，睡得很糟！我晚上幾乎沒什麼睡！天知道有什麼東西在床裡面！

They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds.

我好像睡在硬硬的東西上面，然後我早上看我的身體都瘀青了，太糟了！」

Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin.

因為她感覺到二十個床墊和二十個羽絨被底下的碗豆，所以他們確定她一定是真正的公主。

So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it.

除了真正的公主以外，沒有人有這麼嬌嫩的皮膚。

Now this is a true story.

當王子確定他找到了真正的公主後，他就娶她為妻，然後那顆碗豆如果沒被偷走的話，應該仍被放在博物館裡展示。