Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a real princess. He traveled all around the world looking for one, but he could never be sure if the ladies he met were truly princesses or just pretending.
One stormy night, rain poured down and thunder crashed. Suddenly, someone knocked on the castle door. When the servants opened it, they found a young woman standing in the rain. She was soaking wet, but she said she was a real princess.
The queen had an idea to test if she was telling the truth. She went to the guest bedroom and placed a tiny pea under the mattress. Then she piled twenty soft mattresses and twenty feather beds on top of it, making the bed very, very tall.
"You can sleep here tonight," the queen told the young woman, showing her to the enormous bed.
The next morning, the queen asked the young woman how she had slept.
"Oh, terribly!" said the young woman. "I barely slept at all. There was something hard in the bed that kept me awake all night. I'm covered in bruises!"
The prince and queen looked at each other and smiled. They knew right away that she must be a real princess! Only a true princess could be so sensitive that she could feel a tiny pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds.
The prince was so happy to finally find a real princess. He asked her to marry him, and she said yes. They had a beautiful wedding and lived happily ever after.
As for the pea that proved she was a real princess, they put it in the royal museum where everyone could see it. And if no one has taken it away, it's probably still there today!