II. El guisante
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Four Andersen tales retold for A1
The Princess and the Pea and Other Tales La princesa y el guisante y otros cuentos
Hans Christian Andersen
This is a retelling of four Hans Christian Andersen tales in simple Spanish, not the original text: a MovaReader adaptation for readers who are just starting to read in Spanish. In the catalog it is A1: about 3,900 words told in the present tense, with sentences of 6 words on average. 8 short chapters, two for each tale: The Princess and the Pea, The Tinder-Box, Thumbelina and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
- A1
- 3 861 words
- 1 hour
Will this text hold?
A1
This text
You can manage it at A1: sentences are short, the tales stay in the present tense, and words like colchón or yesquero translate with a tap.
Check this passageA2
With room to spare
At A2 the four tales read almost without translation: a quick way to build speed before longer texts in Spanish.
Start readingThe average sentence has 6 words: the tales move in short present-tense statements, and more than a fifth of the words are the characters’ lines in quotation marks. A word of 9 letters or more comes up about once in 50 words, and 44 of those 78 long words are just three: the name Pulgarcita, golondrina (swallow) and bailarina (dancer). The difficulty is even: each of the 8 chapters has 6-7 words per sentence. Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, also A1 in the catalog, has the same 6 words per sentence. Full texts in Spanish start at B2 in the catalog: Unamuno’s Mist has 13 words per sentence and one long word in fourteen. Hence A1. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 3 861
- words
- 6
- words in an average sentence
- 1
- hour of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
A prince travels the world in search of a real princess, until one stormy night a soaking girl knocks at the city gate and the queen quietly hides a single pea under twenty mattresses. A soldier on his way home from the war climbs into a hollow tree for a witch and finds three dogs guarding copper, silver and gold, and an old tinder-box. A girl no bigger than a thumb is carried off by a toad and has to find her own way through summer and winter. And a one-legged tin soldier falls in love with a paper dancer, then sets off on a journey he did not choose. How each tale ends is not revealed here.
Compare two places
La princesa y el guisante y otros cuentos
VI. Pulgarcita y la golondrina
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Choose an underlined word.
One on top of the other
Encima del guisante: encima de means “on top of”, and de with el contracts to del. Uno encima del otro: “one on top of the other”. In the plural colchón drops its written accent: un colchón, veinte colchones. Tan alta como el techo: tan, an adjective and como make a comparison, “as high as the ceiling”. Para subir: para with an infinitive gives the purpose, “to climb up”.
Who is la?
The little word la stands for a feminine noun that has just been named, and it goes before the verb. La pone encima del pájaro: “she puts it on the bird”, where la is la manta. Pulgarcita la cuida: “Thumbelina looks after her”, where la is now la golondrina. Estar describes a state: el corazón está vivo, la golondrina no está muerta. No puede volar: poder with an infinitive, “cannot fly”.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader translates the whole sentence where simple words add up to an unfamiliar phrase, as in Eso no es cosa tuya, “that is none of your business”.
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Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
An adaptation, not the original text. It is MovaReader’s own retelling in simple Spanish of four tales by Hans Christian Andersen: The Princess and the Pea (Prindsessen paa Ærten, 1835), The Tinder-Box (Fyrtøiet, 1835), Thumbelina (Tommelise, 1835) and The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Den standhaftige Tinsoldat, 1838); Project Gutenberg has them in an English translation. The language has changed: Andersen tells the tales in the past tense, while the retelling uses the present tense, 6 words per sentence on average and plenty of dialogue. The very short princess tale is opened up into two chapters with more conversation; the other three are shortened but keep their plots. Andersen’s episodes remain in order: the storm and the pea under twenty mattresses; the hollow tree, the three dogs and the princess in the copper castle; the toad, the cockchafer, the field mouse, the mole and the swallow; the paper boat, the rat under the bridge and the fish. The full texts of these tales are not in the catalog.
Is there an audiobook?
No, there is no audio version of these tales on MovaReader; the text is read on screen. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears: here that will mostly be words such as guisante (pea), yesquero (tinder-box) or nenúfar (water lily).
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes: whole-sentence translation comes with the Reader plan. But sentences in these tales average 6 words, so you will rarely need a whole one translated: mostly lines like No le parece bien gritar con el uniforme puesto or ¡Qué cuarto tan oscuro y tan triste!, where the words are simple but the pattern is not. Without the plan you can translate single words until the daily limit runs out.
How many hours does it take?
About an hour for all four tales: the pace of someone who still translates new words, not a native speaker’s. There are 8 chapters of roughly 350 to 650 words each, two per tale, so one tale is easy to read in a single sitting.
Where does the text get easier?
The difficulty is even from start to finish: each of the 8 chapters averages 6-7 words per sentence. The two princess chapters are the lightest at about 6; chapter IV, where the soldier’s tale gathers speed, runs slightly longer at about 7.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. After you sign in, the reader remembers where you stopped and which words you opened. The contents on this page also open any of the 8 chapters directly, for example chapter V, “Pulgarcita y el sapo”, where Thumbelina’s tale begins.