Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess. But she had to be a real princess — not just someone who said she was one.

He traveled all around the world. He met many princesses, but there was always something not quite right. One was too proud. One was too rude. One seemed nice enough, but was she really, truly a princess? He could never be sure.

He came home feeling sad. He thought he might never find the right one.

Then, one evening, a terrible storm blew in. Rain poured down. Thunder shook the castle. Lightning cracked the sky. And in the middle of it all, there was a knock at the castle gate.

The old king went to open it. Standing outside was a young woman. She was soaking wet. Water ran down her hair and into her shoes. She looked a mess.

"I am a princess," she said.

"We'll see about that," thought the queen.

The queen went to the guest bedroom and pulled all the blankets and sheets off the bed. She placed one tiny, dried pea on the bare mattress. Then she piled twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and twenty feather quilts on top of the mattresses.

This was the bed the princess was given for the night.

In the morning, they asked her how she had slept.

"Oh, terribly!" said the princess. "I hardly slept at all. There was something hard in the bed — something small and lumpy — and it poked me all night long. I'm covered in bruises."

The queen smiled. Only a real princess could be so delicate that she could feel a single pea through twenty mattresses and twenty quilts.

The prince was overjoyed. He had found his princess at last.

They were married, and the pea was put in a museum, where — if no one has taken it — you can still see it today.