When I was holidaying in Geelong last week, I visited my youngest sister Trudi and we looked over some of the treasures in her shed.

She carefully unwrapped one of the earliest books I can remember reading and enjoying.

I shall place the scanned photos of the book below.

 

Facing sixth page picture

The remaining pages of the book were blank but just as aged-looking as the pages shown here. The back cover was blank and of the same background colour as the front cover.

According to my mother who, at the time of writing this blog, is now 92 years of age, this book originally belonged to my Mormor (Norwegian for grandmother, literally “Mother’s mother”) who was born in 1896, when she was a little girl, so the book is probably well over 100 years old by now.

I am very thankful to my sister Trudi who scanned it and e-mailed the pages to me.

Now although I had no trouble reading and understanding Norwegian when I was a young child, it is now 65 years since I last used the language, so I seem to have lost it somewhere in the meantime.

So I have decided to type out the Norwegian version as accurately as I can, then use Google Translate to give me an English version of the story, and finally to have a go at translating it myself into present day Australian English.

Here is the story in the original Norwegian as transcribed from the book:

H. C. Andersen
Prinsessen På Erten.
Illustreret av Hedvig Collin
Nr. 560.

Prinsessen På Erten.
Hedvig Collins
Utgave for barn av
H. C. Andersens
Eventyr.

Det var en gang en prins. Han vilde så gjerne gifte sig, men det måtte være med en virkelig prinsesse. Så reiste han rundt i hele verden for å finne sig en. Det var sannelig ikke så lett. Ja, prinsesser var det nok av; men en virkelig prinsesse kunne han ikke finne, hvor meget han enn lette. Til slutt reiste han likeså godt hjem igjen. Men han var forferdelig bedrøvet, for han vilde så gjerne ha sig en ordentlig prinsesse.

Så en kveld rök det op et skrekkelig uvær. Det lynte, og det tordnet, og det regnet. Aldeles fryktelig var det. Da banket – bank, bank, – på byens port.

Den gamle kongen måtte ta på sig frakken sin og gå ned og lukke op. Tenk, det var en prinsesse som stod utenfor. Men du store verden, slik hun så ut! Hun var blitt så våt av regnet, at vannet rant fra håret og ned på kjolen og ned i skoene. Og skoene laget store dammer, hvor hun stod og gikk. Men enda sa hun at hun var en virkelig prinsesse.

“Det skal vi snart få greie pa!” tenkte den gamle dronningen. Hun sa ingen ting, men gikk inn i et av gjestevaerelsene og gjorde en seng i stand.  I bunnen av sengen la hun en bitte liten ert. Ovenpå den la hun tyve madrasser. Ovenpå madrassene la hun, først en dyne, så en dyne, så en dyne til, så enda en dyne, og slik holdt hun på til det blev tyve dyner også.

Øverst oppe på de tyve madrassene og de tyve dynene skulde princessen ligge om natten.

Den næste dag spurte de henne hvorledes hun hadde sovet.

“Å, aldeles forferdelig!” sa princessen, “Jeg har næsten ikke sovet et øieblikk i hele natt! Hvad i all verden kan det være som ligger nede i sengen? Det må være noget hårdt, for jeg er både gul og blå over hele kroppen. Det er aldeles skrekkelig!”

Men da skjønte de jo at det var en ordentlig princesse, for så fin hud kunde bare en virkelig princesse ha. “Tenk, føle en ert gjennem tyve dyner og tyve madrasser! Det må være en princesse! Hun tror jeg nok passer!” sa prinsen. Og så holdt de bryllup.

Men erten blev lagt på en silkepute og satt inn i et glass-skap. Og hvis ingen har tatt den, ligger den der den dag idag.

 

And here is Google Translate‘s attempt at rendering the words into English:

H. C. Andersen
Princess and the Pea.
Illustrated by Hedvig Collin
No.. 560.

Princess and the Pea.
Hedvig Collins
Issue for children of
H. C. Andersen
Adventure.

There was once a prince. He wanted so much to marry, but it had to be a real princess. So he travelled around the world to find himself one. It was no easy matter. Yes, princesses were plentiful; but a real princess he could not find, how much he than light. Finally he travelled likewise well back home. But he was awful sad, for he would then like to have themselves a real princess.

So one night rök forth a frightful storm. It lightened and it thundered, and it rained. Perfectly horrible it was. When beaten – bank, banking, – at the city gate.

The old king had to take upon himself his coat and go down and close up. Imagine, there was a princess who stood outside. But you big world, so she looked! She was so wet from the rain, and the water flowed from the hair and down her dress and down in your shoes. And shoes made large ponds, where she stood and walked. But even she said that she was a real princess.

“That we soon become clear pa!” thought the old queen. She said nothing, but went into one of guestrooms and made a bed ready.  In the bottom of the bed she a tiny pea. Upstairs the she twenty mattresses. Upstairs mattresses she, at first a duvet, so a duvet, so a duvet, so even a quilt, and so she kept on till it was twenty quilts too.

At the top of the twenty mattresses and twenty quilts might Princess is at night.

The next day, they asked her how she had slept.

“Oh, absolutely terrible!” said Princess, “I have scarcely slept a moment all night! What in the world can it be lying down in bed? There must be something hard, because I’m black and blue all over my body. It is utterly appalling! ”

But when they saw that there was a proper princesse, then nice skin customer just a really princesse have. “Think, feel a pea through twenty quilts and twenty mattresses! There must be a princesse! She think I fit enough!” said the prince. And so they were married.

But the pea was put on a silk pillow and put into a glass cabinet. And if no one has taken it, it lies to this day.

Here is my own English translation of the story:

H. C. Andersen
The Princess and the Pea
Illustrated by Hedvig Collins
No 560

The Princess and the Pea
Hedvig Collins
Children’s Version of the
H. C. Andersen
Adventure

Once there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess, but only a real princess would do. So he travelled throughout the world trying to find her, but it was no easy matter. Yes, there were plenty of princesses, but it was impossible to find a real one, no matter how hard he tried. So he returned home where he was very unhappy, as he wanted so much to marry a real princess.

One night a terrible storm blew up. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared and it rained incessantly.  It was a really horrible night.  In the midst of the tempest there was heard a continual knocking at the palace door, so the old king went down to open it.

Amazingly, a princess stood at the door, but what a bedraggled sight she looked from all that wind and rain! Water streamed from her hair, down through her clothing and into her shoes.  Puddles formed around her feet where she stood. But she claimed to be a real princess.

“We’ll soon see about that!” thought the old queen to herself.  Without a word to anyone, she went to one of the guest rooms and stripped all the bedding off the bed.  On the bed base she placed one solitary pea.  On top of the pea she placed twenty soft mattresses and on top of the mattresses she placed twenty eiderdown doonas. Up on top of all these, the princess was to spend the night.

In the morning they asked her, “How well did you sleep?”

“Oh! Terribly!” said the princess.  “I scarcely slept a wink all night!  What on earth could be in that bed? It must be something hard, because I am black and blue all over. It was a terrible night!”

Now they could see that, without doubt, she was a real princess.  “Imagine! To be able to feel a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty doonas, she has to be a real princess!” said the prince.  So the prince lost no time in marrying her since he knew he had found a real princess.

As for the pea, it was displayed in the museum on a silk cushion in a glass case. And if no-one has stolen it, it is still there today.

Notes:

Hans Christian Andersen was Danish so the above story had been translated by a person unknown from Danish to Norwegian. It would therefore have originally been titled: Prindsessen paa Ærten.

For some unknown reason, Google Translate chose to spell ‘princess’ as ‘princesse’ on several occasions so I have left those renderings as they are.

When I was small and either my Mormor or my mother would tell this story to me, they always finished it with an additional sentence: “There! That is a true story!”