Edith Bowman - The Princess and the Pig CBeebies Bedtime Stories

Hello.

My name is Edith and I'm here to tell you a bedtime story

all about an unexpected mix-up.

Would you like to hear it?

You would? Great. Well, get yourself nice and comfortable.

The story's called The Princess And The Pig

and it's by Jonathan Emmett and Poly Bernatene.

Not that long ago, in a kingdom not far from here,

a farmer was travelling home from market with a cart-load of straw.

The farmer was so poor, he didn't have a horse

and had to pull his own cart.

In the back of the cart lay a tiny, pink piglet.

Nobody wanted to buy the piglet at market,

but the farmer had taken pity on it.

"I'll call you Pigmella," he decided,

as this seemed like a good name for a pig.

It was a hot day

and the farmer stopped to rest in the shade of a great castle.

Far, far above him, on a high balcony,

a queen was inspecting her new baby daughter.

The Queen was so rich that she has seven nannies

and didn't have to look after her own child.

The Queen picked the baby out of her cot and held her at arm's length.

"I'll call it Priscilla," she decided,

as this seemed like a good name for a princess.

A moment later, a wet squelching noise came from the baby's nappy,

closely followed by an awful smell.

"Yuck!" shrieked the Queen,

dropping the baby and running off to find the royal nannies.

She left so quickly, she didn't notice

that she had dropped the baby over the edge of the balcony.

Down, down, down went the baby, into the farmer's cart.

Up, up, up flew the piglet, into the princess' cot.

When the Queen returned

and found the piglet lying where the baby should have been,

she let out an even louder shriek and fainted into the nannies' arms.

The King thought he knew what had happened.

"A bad fairy has done this," he explained.

"The fairy wasn't invited to the princess' christening,

"so she's turned the baby into a piglet to get her revenge.

"It's the sort of thing that happens all the while in books."

Meanwhile, the farmer had returned home

and was startled to discover a baby girl

lying where the piglet should have been.

The farmer's wife thought she knew what had happened.

"A good fairy has done this," she explained.

"The fairy knew how poor and honest we are,

"and how badly we want a child

"so she's turned the piglet into a baby.

"It's the sort of thing that happens all the while in books."

And so, without a second thought, the baby became Pigmella,

the farmer's daughter.

And the piglet became Priscilla, the princess.

It wasn't long before Pigmella was able to eat,

walk,

and dress all by herself.

And the farmer and his wife soon forgot that she'd ever been a pig.

Things were not so easy for Priscilla.

But the King and Queen never let anyone forget

that she was really a princess.

As Pigmella grew older, she grew clever and beautiful

and was admired by everyone she met.

As Priscilla grew older, she grew not so clever and not so beautiful

and was avoided by everyone she met.

Then one day, the farmer's wife overheard

some of the castle servants

talking about the princess who had turned into a pig.

"It's just like what happened to Pigmella," she told her husband.

"Only the other way around."

The farmer soon guessed what had happened.

"The princess and the pig must have swapped places somehow,"

he explained.

"It's the sort of thing that happens all the while in books."

The poor farmer and his wife were very unhappy.

They loved Pigmella,

but they knew they must return her to her rightful home.

Pigmella was also unhappy. She loved the farmer and his wife

and did not want to live with anyone else.

But they were an honest family, so the next day,

they all went to the castle to see the King and Queen.

The King and Queen listened to the farmer's story,

but they didn't believe it.

"What nonsense," cried the Queen.

"Ridiculous," laughed the King.

"This girl may be clever and beautiful,

"but she does not look or speak like a proper princess."

The Queen thought she knew what was happening.

"It's a trick," she declared. "This girl is just a farmer's daughter,

"pretending to be a princess in the hope she might marry a prince.

"It's the sort of thing that happens all the while in books."

And so Pigmella returned home with the farmer and his wife,

where she married a young shepherd and lived happily ever after,

and never once wished that she'd been a princess.

And Priscilla also got married to a handsome prince,

although he had to be talked into it.

"Priscilla was changed into a pig by a bad fairy," the King explained.

"But once you kiss her, the spell will be broken and she'll turn back

"into a beautiful princess," added the Queen.

"It's the sort of thing that happens all the while in books,"

they assured him.

But unfortunately for the prince,

it's not the sort of thing that happens in this particular book.

That was a funny story, wasn't it?

It was called The Princess And The Pig

and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

It's bedtime now, so you better get ready for a good, long sleep.

I'll be back again soon with another story. Sleep tight.