The Princess and the Pea

About

Written by Hans Christian Andersen, The Princes and the Pea is a beloved fairy tale that tells the story of a prince who is seeking a princess, though his quest for a wife proves difficult, as he cannot be certain that any of the women he meets are true princesses. When a young woman appears at the castle doors seeking shelter from a stormy, he and his mother invite her in to stay for the night. While the mystery woman claims she is a princess, the queen decides to test her guest's honor by placing a single pea under 20 mattresses and 20 feather beds on the bed the woman is to sleep on. The next morning, the woman regales the queen with her sleepless night, claiming that she was kept awake by something hard in the bed. With this knowledge, the prince rejoiced and decides to marry her, because only a real princess would have the sensitivity to feel a pea through so much bedding.