The Princess and the Pea

A prince wanted to marry a real princess, and only a real one. He traveled the whole kingdom searching, but no matter how many lovely girls he met, he could never be sure they were truly princesses, and he returned to the castle discouraged.

One night, a terrible storm raged. A knock came at the castle door, and there stood a soaking-wet young woman claiming to be a lost princess.

The clever queen devised a test. She placed a single tiny pea beneath a mattress, then stacked twenty soft mattresses on top of it, along with twenty feather quilts, before letting the young woman sleep there.

The next morning, the queen asked the young woman if she had slept well. Exhausted, she replied that she hadn't slept a wink all night, feeling as if something hard had been pressing into her beneath all those thick mattresses.

The queen and prince smiled with delight, for only a real princess could feel a tiny pea beneath so many thick mattresses. The prince married her, and they lived happily together.

Sometimes a person's true worth is hidden in a small detail others can't see.