“How to Tell a True Princess.” The Yellow Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906, pp. 254-255.

Tale Summary

Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess, but only a true princess. He traveled the world looking for one but could never find one that was true, so he came back home in low spirits. One night there was a terrible storm, and knocking was heard at the palace gate. The king went to open it and there stood a princess, drenched from the storm, who claimed she was a true princess. The queen set up a test and went into the bedroom to put a pea at the bottom of the bed before stacking 20 mattresses on top and 20 eirder-down quilts on top of the mattresses. The next morning the princess said she had slept very badly because of something in the bed, and she was revealed to be a true princess because only a true princess could be so sensitive. The prince married her and the pea was put into the Royal Museum.