Rain, Mattresses and a Pea
The Princess and the Pea is a story I’ve been thinking about lately. A woman appears one the prince’s doorstep on rainy night, drenched and claiming to be a princess. His mother, eager to marry off her son, conceives of a test where she puts a pea beneath a stack of mattresses and waits to see if the girl has a good night’s sleep or not. In the morning she’s told that the girl in fact had a terrible night because it felt like she was sleeping on a boulder. As proof, she shows the queen her back, which is completely bruised. The mother declares that she must be a princess because only a princess would feel a pea through all those mattresses.
I used to read that story and think nothing of it. A girl proves she’s worthy by confounding the scheming mother’s ideas. But what does the prospective mother-in-law get or the prince for that matter? A girl who is so delicate she can’t sleep on cushy mattress if there’s a pea under one. That girl sounds soft to me. If I were the prince’s mother I’d put actual rocks under the mattress—just one—and pick the girl who woke up ready for the day despite tortured sleep. That girl can run a kingdom. Who wants their child’s partner falling to bits because of one pea? I'd want a princess who objects to mistreatment and knows her worth.
And what does the princess get? The prince wants to marry but continues to turn them down any perspective brides because he doesn’t think of them as true princesses. And yet, the one who’s the most sensitive is the one for him. What’s he like? What’s part two of this story? In an earlier post I wrote a little rhyme about it, but maybe next time I’ll write about what happens next. Any thoughts?
