What is the Queen up to?

Mariam
Hello again, I’m Mariam. Let’s continue the story of a prince who is looking for a princess. A woman has turned up at the castle claiming to be one, and the Queen is about to put her to the test to see how genuine she really is.

So, there is the bed with the pea at the bottom and twenty mattresses on top. To make it cosier, the Queen puts twenty soft feather eiderdowns on top of that. Then she invites the alleged princess to get some sleep . The princess is a bit surprised at what she sees, but she is so tired, she cautiously climbs on to the top of the bed and quickly falls asleep .

Next morning, the King and Queen eagerly ask her if she slept well . “No, sorry - I didn’t sleep a wink ,” the princess replies. “There was something hard in the bed and I just couldn’t get comfortable.” Then they notice she is covered in bruises. “Wonderful!” says the Queen - because she thinks that only someone as delicate as a princess could feel a pea through all those mattresses and eiderdowns. It’s not the most scientific of tests, but it has convinced the Queen and she rushes off to tell the prince to marry her. He says he’ll sleep on it but the Queen tells him there is no time to lose and they are married the next day!

A happy ending! And the pea, so I am told, was put in a museum for everyone to see. I wonder if that’s true? Well, I hope you enjoyed today’s story and I’ll see you soon for another one. Bye for now.