Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them about their modishness or sophistication that was not as it should be. He was looking for a bride who was not only beautiful, but also well-born, with the elegance and manners found only in those of noble birth and background. So he came back to his home and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.
One evening, during a fierce hurricane that had suddenly blown up, there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in **torrent not allowed**s.
All of a sudden a persistent knocking was heard at the castle door. The prince's father sent a servant to find out who was there. Standing on the steps, lit by flashes of lightning, in the driving rain, was a young lady. "I'm a princess," she said," seeking shelter for myself and my page. My carriage has broken down and the coachman can't repair it till tomorrow." But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
Well, we'll soon find that out, thought the old queen standing besides the king, she was listening to the whole conversation.
"Prepare a soft bed in the Blue Room," she said told the servants, "I'll come myself and make sure everything is in order." She told the servants to lay a pile of twenty soft quilts on top of the mattress, and under the mattress she hid a pea.
Then she showed the girl to her room. The rain beat down all night and lightning streaked the sky. In the morning, the prince's mother asked her guest: "Did you sleep well? Was the bed comfortable?"
The girl politely replied:"lt was a lovely soft bed, so soft that I could feel something hard under the mattress. so that I am black and blue all over my body. This morning, I discovered it was a pea. It kept me awake all night!" The prince's mother offered her apologies, before rushing off to her son.
Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; The prince had finally found the bride of his dreams.
After the wedding, the pea was placed inside a gold and crystal box and exhibited in the castle museum.
There, that is a true story.
