The following tales are similar to the Princess and the Pea fairy tale, ATU-704. I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the Princess and the Pea story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.

The Most Sensitive Woman *
The Pea Test
The Princess on the Pea
The Princess and the Pea *
The Tale of the Dragon *
The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue-Banner: Which Is the Most Delicate? *

* Full text of tale is available online.

A web version of this tale is available on D. L. Ashliman's site at The Most Sensitive Woman translated by Ashliman.

This tale is ATU-704.

An English language version is available in:

Ashliman's Source: Christian Schneller, "Die Empfindlichste" (La più delicata), Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol (Innsbruck: Verlag der Wagner'schen Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1867), no. 45, pp. 128-129.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is ATU-704.

Note: The Grimms included the story in their 1843 collection of tales, but later removed it in 1850 due to its obviously close relationship to Andersen's tale.

An English language version is available in:

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, translator. New York: Bantam, 1987.
Buy the book in paperback.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Grimm's Other Tales. William Hansen, selector. Ruth Michael-Jenas and Arthur Ratcliff, translators. London: Golden Cockerel Press, 1956.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is ATU-704.

An English language version is available in:

Opie, Iona and Peter. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Buy the book in paperback.

Return to top of page

This is the version of the tale presented on the site with annotations at The Princess and the Pea.

This tale is ATU-704.

An English language version is available in:

Andersen, Hans Christian. The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories. Erik Christian Haugaard, translator. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983.
Buy the book in paperback.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale is available at The Tale of the Dragon.

While this tale is not ATU-704, it has many elements similar to the tale type that bears comparison here. The tale is from Tenos, Greece.

Geldart, Edmund Martin. Folk-Lore of Modern Greece: The Tales of the People. London: W. Swan Sonnenschein and Company, 1884.

Return to top of page

A web version of this tale is available at The Three Delicate Wives of King Virtue-Banner: Which Is the Most Delicate?

This tale is ATU-704. It is from India.

Ryder, Arthur William. Twenty-Two Goblins. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1917.

Return to top of page