Once upon a time, there was a prince, Prince Aaron. When he grew up he wanted to marry a princess, a pure royal blood princess.

Then one night there was a terrible thunder storm. In the middle of the storm there was a knock on the door of the castle. The old king went to open the door. There, standing outside in the pouring rain, was a lovely lady. She might have been a princess, but she was so wet that it was difficult to tell.

The king led the princess into the castle, out of the wind and the rain. There she stood, in a pool of water and all she could say was, “I am a real princess, Princess Shirli.” Prince Aaron could not believe his ears when he heard her say that. “We will see about that,” thought the old queen, but she did not say anything.

The queen had all the bedclothes taken off the bed. Then she put a pea under the mattress. Then more mattresses were put on top, until there were 20 mattresses on top of the pea and had many feather beds piled on top of the 20 mattresses. When Princess Shirli was warmed and fed, the queen led her to the bedroom and tucked her into bed.

In the morning, the old queen went to see the Princess Shirli. “How did you sleep, my dear?” she asked her. “Dreadfully!” replied the princess. “What was the matter?” asked the old queen. “I do not know what was in the bed,” replied Princess Shirli, “but there was something hard in it.”

Then the queen knew that this was a real princess because she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and many feather beds. Only real princess could be as tender as that. Prince Aaron was filled with joy when the old queen told him that they had indeed found a real princess. A wedding was arranged between the prince and the real princess and they lived happily ever after :)



~ The End ~