Reading A: European Tales

The Princess and the Pea

• Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted a "real princess" but couldn't find one anywhere - whatever that means
• Disappointed, he returned home only to be awakened by the arrival of a strange women claiming to be a real princess
• To test this the Queen put a pea under 20 mattresses and had the princess sleep on it
• When she woke up the next morning uncomfortable and covered in bruises they knew she was a real princess and the Prince married her

The Emperors New Clothes

No Clothes No Problem

• An emperor is completely obsessed with having nice robes and focuses on that above all else
• At some point two swindlers come to town and say that they make clothes that can't be seen if the person is stupid or unfit for office
• The Emperor commisions a suite from this material and gives the "tailors" many fine things 
• One by one the emperor sends courtiers to check on the clothing and although none of them can see it, they pretend to, unwilling to admit to being stupid or incompetant
• Eventually the emperor dons the suit, even though he cannot see it because it doesn't exist, and walks naked in front of the entire city
• Only a young child points out that he is not wearing anything

The Brave Tin Soldier

• There was a group of tin soldiers given to a young boy
• One of them had only one leg and fell in love with a beautiful paper dancing women who appeared to have one leg because of the way she was posed
• He set about to meet her but a goblin toy told him not to want what he couldn't have
• Afterwards - presumably because of the goblins curse - the tin man got lost and ended up in a paper boat in the sewar
• There he was eaten by a fish that then was caught and taken by the cook to eat and the solider was back at his original home
• Then one of the children threw him in the fire and the paper dancer jumped in to and they burned alive together into the shape of a heart.