The Princess and the Pea

Once, a prince longed to marry a true princess.

He journeyed far and met many princesses, yet something never felt quite true.

At last he returned home, sorrowful. His mother, the queen, wished she could help.

Then, on a night of thunder and pouring rain, someone knocked at the castle gate.

Outside stood a drenched young woman. “I am a true princess,” she told the queen.

The queen led her inside, then quietly thought of a test.

She hid one tiny pea beneath twenty mattresses and twenty soft featherbeds.

The princess climbed the towering bed and settled beneath the quilt. All night, she turned and sighed.

At breakfast, the queen asked how she had slept. “Very badly,” said the princess, “for something hard pressed against me all night.”

The prince understood at once. Only a true princess could have felt the pea through every soft layer.

So the prince and princess were married, while the queen smiled and the castle shone warmly around them.

The pea was kept as a wonder. In the quiet castle, the prince and princess lived happily together, and all was well.