ˌPrincess and the ˈPea, The
a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen in which a young woman proves that she is a princess by noticing that there is a pea (=a small round green vegetable) under the pile of mattresses she has been sleeping on. A queen has put the pea under her bed as a test to see if the young woman will feel it, because only a real princess would be so delicate that she would notice a small pea. As a result, the queen allows the young woman to marry her son, a prince.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲