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Hello, I'm Mariam.
Today's story is a fairy tale about a young woman whose identity is put to the test using just a little green pea.
Yep, this is the story of the princess and the pea.
Our story begins a long time ago.
There's a handsome prince who desperately wants to marry a princess.
He travels the world to find one, and there are plenty available, but he loses sleep over how genuine they really are.
So there he is, back at home in his castle, feeling lonely and worried about the situation.
That night there's a big storm thunder lightning, torrential rain but the prince sleeps through it.
He doesn't hear someone knocking at the door, but his mother, the queen does, and she goes to see who it is.
She opens the door and finds a young woman soaking wet and windblown.
Who are you? she asks.
I'm a princess and I need a place to sleep, she says.
Hmm, the queen thinks.
Are you really?
She lets her in and then rushes up to one of the spare bedrooms.
The castle can sleep hundreds, so there are plenty to choose from.
She takes all the covers and sheets off the bed and places just one green pea at the bottom.
Then the queen gets 20 mattresses and piles them up on top of the pea.
The king gives her a hand because they are rather heavy.
Despite all the noise, the prince is sleeping like a baby and has no idea what they're up to.
So there is the bed, with a pea at the bottom and 20 mattresses on top.
To make it cosier, the queen puts 20 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 as she is so tired, she cautiously climbs onto 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 noticed she is covered in bruises.
Wonderful, says the queen, because she thinks that only someone as delicate as a princess could feel a pee 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 join me soon for another one.
Bye for now.
