The Princess and the Pea

Walking past the story museum this evening reminded me that Christmas is a time for stories, so here is one:

A prince wanted to marry a princess who had arrived at the palace gates after a storm and was in tatters. Because of her appearance there was some doubt over whether or not she was a real princess.

The Queen made up a bed for the night with a pea beneath 20 mattresses and the 20 eider-downs on the basis that only a real princess would be able to feel the pea through all that bedding.

In the morning the princess said that she hadn't slept all night because of the discomfort from a lump in the mattress.

The prince then knew that she was a real princess and took her for his wife. The pea was put in the museum.

The pea can now be found in The Story Museum in Oxford.