The Princess And The Pea
A prince travels the world searching for a genuine princess to marry, but he struggles to distinguish them from impostors. Every woman he meets seems to have some flaw that makes her feel less than real. He returns home feeling quite sad and hopeless about his quest. One stormy evening, a soaked young woman arrives at the castle gate claiming to be a princess. The old queen decides to test her claim with a clever and unusual method. She places a single pea beneath twenty mattresses and twenty eider-down beds. The visitor spends the night on this incredibly hard and uncomfortable pile of bedding. In the morning, she complains bitterly about having slept poorly due to something hard in the bed. Her sensitivity proves that she is truly a real princess because only she could feel the tiny pea. The prince is delighted by this proof and decides to marry her immediately. They live happily together, valuing the truth of her identity above all else. The original pea is preserved in a museum as a testament to this sensitive discovery. It stands there today for anyone to see if they wish to believe the tale.
