豌豆公主

Once upon a time, there was a prince. He wanted to marry a princess, but she had to be a real princess.

So he traveled all over the world. He met many princesses. But something was always not quite right. Was she a real princess? He could never be sure. At last he came home, and he was very sad.

One evening, there was a terrible storm. Thunder boomed, and rain poured down. Then someone knocked at the city gate. Knock, knock, knock! The old king went to open it.

A girl stood outside in the rain. Water ran down her hair and her clothes. It ran into her shoes and out again. "I am a real princess," she said.

"We will soon see," thought the old queen. But she said nothing. She went to the bedroom and put one small pea on the bed. Then she put twenty mattresses on top of the pea. Then she put twenty soft quilts on top of the mattresses. That night, the princess slept on top of them all.

In the morning, they asked her, "How did you sleep?"

"Oh, very badly!" said the princess. "I hardly closed my eyes all night. There was something hard in my bed. Now I am black and blue all over!"

Then they knew she was a real princess. She felt one little pea through twenty mattresses and twenty quilts! Only a real princess could feel that.

So the prince married her. He was very happy, because he had a real princess at last. And the pea? It went into a museum. You can still see it there, if nobody has taken it.

And that is a true story.