Princess Records Fairy Tales for TV

OSLO, Norway (AP) â€” For once, a fairy tale reader on Norwegian television will be speaking from experience. <br><br>She's a real princess, and even tried sleeping on a pea to test the old tale ``The

Tuesday, November 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OSLO, Norway (AP) â€” For once, a fairy tale reader on Norwegian television will be speaking from experience.

She's a real princess, and even tried sleeping on a pea to test the old tale ``The Princess and the Pea,'' the national news media said Tuesday.

Princess Martha Louise, the 29-year-old daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, is recording 10 programs of children's fairy tales for broadcast by the state television network NRK during the Christmas season.

The series, appropriately enough, is being called ``The Princess in Fairy Tale Land.''

The princess came up with the idea for the programs on her own because she always loved fairy tales as a child.

``When adults read fairy tales aloud, children learn to listen,'' the princess said. ``They can take that with them, be better at listening, learn empathy and put themselves in another person's situation.''

She said tales also stimulate a child's imagination.

``Before I understood that I was princess, I dreamed, like many little girls, of being a princess,'' she said. She said she used to wonder about the story of the princess so sensitive that she could feel a pea under a stack of mattresses

``I tried it. I put a pea under my mattress, but I couldn't feel a thing,'' said the princess, breaking out in laughter.