Which Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale tests a princess with a single pea beneath many mattresses?

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a princess tested with a pea beneath many mattresses is “The Princess and the Pea.”

Andersen published the story in 1835 as part of his first fairy-tale collection. In the tale, a young woman claims to be a real princess, so the queen places a pea under a stack of mattresses and beds. The woman’s inability to sleep comfortably is treated as proof of her royal sensitivity.

The story is extremely short compared with many of Andersen’s other tales. Its humor comes from the exaggerated test and the idea that aristocratic refinement can be demonstrated through extraordinary physical sensitivity.

The number of mattresses varies in translations and editions, so the defining detail is the pea under layered bedding, not a single universally translated count. The story has also inspired stage works and the expression “princess and the pea.”