With these words from the princess — for now they knew she was not just a maiden but a true princess — a great cheer went up from the prince, the king, and the queen . “Hip, hip, hooray!” shouted the king. “You are the sensitive princess our son has been looking for these many, many years. Now, you and the prince can marry, and the queen and I can retire to sunnier climates!”
They knew without a doubt that she was a real princess because she had felt the tiny, soft pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eiderdown comforters. Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that, they all agreed.
So the prince and the princess were married in an incredibly grand celebration. The palace kitchen prepared a huge wedding feast, consisting of many dishes prepared with peas: split-pea soup, creamed peas, stir-fried snow peas, and even sweet pea ice cream.
