Once upon a time there was a prince who wished for a real princess as his friend. But how do you recognize a real princess? Nobody quite knew. The prince searched the whole world over and came home sad.
One evening a terrible storm blew in. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and the rain poured down in streams. Then came a knock at the castle gate. Outside stood a girl, soaked through — water ran from her hair and out of her shoes. 'I am a princess,' she said.
'A princess? In this weather?' thought the old queen. 'We shall soon see about that.' Secretly she went into the guest chamber and placed one tiny pea on the bed frame. On top she piled twenty mattresses, and on top of those, twenty featherbeds.
The girl climbed the tall bed-ladder and lay down to sleep. In the morning the queen asked kindly, 'Well, how did you sleep?' — 'Oh,' sighed the girl, 'hardly at all! There was something hard in my bed. I'm black and blue all over.'
Then everyone knew: this was a real princess! For only a real princess could feel a pea through twenty mattresses and twenty featherbeds. No one else could be so sensitive.
The prince and the princess became the very best of friends. And the pea? It went to the museum, into a little glass case on a velvet cushion. Perhaps it is still there today — unless somebody has eaten it.
