The queen went to prepare the spare bed for their young visitor. First she took off all the bedding and then she laid a pea at the very bottom. On top of the pea she put twenty mattresses and on top of the mattresses she put twenty feather beds.
The next morning the princess was asked how she had slept.
“Oh, very badly!” she groaned. “I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. I tried everything I could think of to fall asleep but I had no luck. Heaven only knows what was in that bed, but I was lying on something incredibly hard and bothersome. Now, I am black and blue all over my body. Oh! It was completely horrible!”
