The Princess and the Pea

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess.But she had to be a real princess, and that was not easy to find.He travelled all over the world, but there was always something wrong, and he came home very sad.

One evening a terrible storm came.The rain poured down, and the thunder and lightning were frightening.Then someone knocked at the town gate, and the old king went to open it.

A young woman was standing outside in the rain.The water ran down her hair and her clothes, and even through her shoes.But she said, “I am a real princess.”

“We will soon see about that,” the old queen thought, but she said nothing.She went to the bedroom and put one little pea on the bottom of the bed.Then she piled twenty mattresses and twenty soft quilts on top of the pea.

The princess slept there all night.In the morning they asked her, “How did you sleep?”“Very badly!” she said. “There was something hard in the bed, and now I am black and blue all over.”

Now the king and queen were happy, because only a real princess could feel a tiny pea through twenty mattresses and twenty quilts.So the prince married her, and the little pea was put in a museum, where you can still see it today.