147.Princess and the Pea

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Princess and the pea. Once upon a time, in a
far away kingdom, there lived a prince who yearned to
marry a true princess. He had traveled far and wide,
meeting many fine ladies, yet he couldn't be sure if
any of them were truly royal in their hearts. His mother,
the Queen, often told him, a true princess has a

(00:20):
delicate heart. Only such a woman is worthy of ruling
beside you. But this idea seemed mysterious and impossible to
the prince. One evening, as thunder rumbled and rain poured
down in torrents, a loud knock echoed through the palace.
When the Queen opened the door, there stood a young woman,
drenched and shivering, with her cloak clinging to her skin

(00:42):
and her shoes caked in mud. She introduced herself as
a princess stranded by the storm while journeying home from
a distant kingdom. Her voice was kind and steady, her
gaze gentle but assured. The Queen, suspicious yet intrigued, decided
to test her claim. A princess, you say, she mused,
and invited the girl to stay the night. She led

(01:05):
the girl to a chamber prepared specially for a test.
The queen had invented a test that only a true
princess could pass. Before the young lady's bed, the Queen
placed a single pee under the mattress. Then she ordered
her attendants to stack twenty more mattresses on top, as
well as twenty layers of soft down comfters. The bed

(01:25):
looked like a fluffy cloud, a throne of cushions towering
over the girl. When the girl saw the bed, she
smiled politely. Thank you, your majesty, she said, and climbed
up the mountain of bedding, settling in for the night.
The next morning, the queen asked, did you sleep well, dear?
The girl hesitated, then replied, I am so grateful for

(01:47):
your hospitality, your majesty, But to tell the truth, I
could not sleep a wink. I felt something hard under
the mattress, something that pressed into my back all night.
My body is covered in bruises. She rubbed her arm,
showing faint marks. The Queen's eyes sparkled with delight, for
she knew only a true princess could be sensitive enough

(02:09):
to feel a single pea through twenty mattresses and twenty comforters.
She hugged the girl warmly and immediately sent for her son,
who could hardly believe his luck. This girl was indeed
a princess. Days later, the kingdom celebrated a grand wedding.
The prince had finally found his true princess, one with
a heart so delicate and gentle that she could feel

(02:30):
even the smallest discomfort in the world. She ruled beside
him with kindness and empathy, and the kingdom prospered under
their reign. As for the pea, it was placed in
the Royal Museum, where it remained for years as a
reminder of the prince's quest and the miraculous test of
the queen. And in that kingdom tales were told of
the princess with the purest heart, the one who could

(02:52):
feel a pea beneath mountains of softness, a true princess
and a true ruler of hearts.