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The Pea and the Princess

Back in the times of kings and queens, princesses were expected to marry princes. The prince Rhys of the Talbot family was one of many children in the royal household. Nevertheless, he was taught by his governess that a prince must find a suitable princess to wed, or he would have no chance at becoming a successful ruler.

Prince Rhys was the last of his siblings to get married. His sisters had already gone off to live with their new royal husbands in faraway lands, and his brothers had wedded the only eligible noble ladies in the area. This meant that Rhys would have to find a bride from elsewhere.

The royal family put out a call for noble ladies from around the lands to visit the bachelor prince. One after another, many noble families traveled to the castle. Rhys would meet the daughters of noble men, but none of them seemed like they could become a wonderful princess. After turning down hundreds of suitors, the prince thought he would be unwed for life.

One stormy day, a woman arrived at the castle who looked worse for wear. Her hair was matted, and her clothes looked very worn, not to mention that she had been walking through a torrential downpour. Her eyes met the royal guard, then looked toward the ground. “My name is Princess Lillibet, I’ve come to present myself to the prince,” she said, while repeatedly placing her fingers in her palms . The guards were going to turn her away, as she clearly did not look like a princess, but Rhys happened to overhear the woman and came over.

The prince thought, why not, and so invited the woman inside. “My name is Prince Rhys of Talbot, my lady. It is nice to meet you,” said the prince. “Prince Rhys of Talbot, my lady. It is nice to meet you,” said Lillibet, with a blank expression. The prince thought that was an odd thing to say, but continued along.

The princess was drawn a hot bath and presented with fine clothing to change into, then would meet with the royal family for a meal. Lillibet washed in the bath but refused the fine clothing. The maidservants were confused, and offered her a gown fit for the queen, but she refused that too.

“May I have a plain kirtle please,” the princess asked, “I simply cannot wear these fabrics, they are too slippery. And the new dress you brought me has beads on it, and I won’t wear them.” So the princess arrived at the dining hall wearing a plain dress with no jewelry and un-styled hair.

The prince was confused. “My lady, did the maidservants not receive my orders to dress you in our finest silks?” he asked. Lillibet stood in the large room and directed her gaze at the table. “I do not wear silks. I dress in wool and cotton. The other fabric is uncomfortable,” the princess said.

That’s odd, the prince thought. I would think that someone would jump at the chance to wear such new and expensive clothing.

The king said, “Come, sit with us at the table.” Lillibet stood blankly and placed her fingers in and out of her palms again , then sat at the third chair from the end. The royal family began to eat some of the rich foods served to them and drank their fine wine. The princess sat and looked around the room and rubbed her fingers on her dress.

Nobody spoke for a while, but soon Rhys noticed that Lillibet had not taken any of the food. “Princess, you are free to have as much food and drink as you like,” he told her. “It’s not dinner time yet. I won’t eat dinner unless it’s dinner time. That’s at the seventh candle mark,” Lillibet replied . The prince thought that was odd, because it was only the sixth candle mark, and surely that was close enough to the seventh. “Alright, we shall save you a plate for then,” the prince announced.

The family finished up eating, and the queen grew curious about this woman. “So, princess, what lands do you come from?” the queen asked. “What lands do you come from. I live in the castle at Cei Conna,” Lillibet replied.

“I thought the all the eligible noble ladies from Cei Conna had already visited,” said the prince. “They did,” the princess replied, “but I was not permitted to go.” The princess was flapping her hands once again. “Why were you not permitted to go? Surely, they would send their princess to meet our eligible son?” the king asked.

“I’m not allowed to leave the castle. Ever since I was five summers old, I was not allowed to leave the castle because my father was ashamed of how unladylike I was becoming . But I am outside the castle now,” said the princess. The royal family was intrigued. Was she kept inside because of her strange appearance and way of speaking? This was an odd woman, yet she claimed to be a princess, the queen thought.

“It’s the seventh hour,” Lillibet said. The family at the table sat and waited for her to elaborate. “It’s the seventh hour, it’s time for dinner,” she continued. “Oh, yes, uh… quite. I’ll send for the plate,” the prince said.

The princess ate the all the potage, then all the mince pie, then all the venison, then drank her cup of wine. “Did you sneak out of the castle? Does your father know where you are?” the king asked.

“My father said that he would take away my cat if I keep sneaking into the library. He knows my only friend is Felicity . She even catches the mice around my chambers,” the princess explained.

“Which I find quite disagreeable. The library is the best place in the castle, and I would rather spend my time there than trying to keep up with the gossiping castle staff,” Lillibet continued, “Do you have a library here? I would like to see what kinds of bestiaries you have. I’m quite interested in learning about animals.”

The king and queen glanced at each other and said nothing. The prince took a moment to respond. “Sure, my lady. Follow me,” Rhys said. “Sure my lady, follow me,” Lillibet echoed , and was led toward the library.

“This woman is a bit strange. Do you believe that she is a true princess?” the king asked the queen. “Well, I’m not quite sure. She doesn’t seem to fit what I would call a traditional princess,” the queen responded. “Then what do you supposed we do? Do we expect our son to never marry? He’s already rejected every eligible bride in the land?” the king bellowed.

The queen thought to herself for a moment. “I think I have an idea,” she said, “we will just have to wait until the morning.” And so the queen sent for a pea from the kitchens, and sent the maidservants to gather all the bedlinens and the finest feather mattresses the household owned.

That evening, Lillibet was led to the royal guest quarters to retire. She noticed that the bed was stacked several mattresses high, with several quilts and blankets on top. The princess thought that this would work out nicely, as she normally sleeps with heavy blankets , but she soon noticed something off about the bed. No matter how she tossed and turned, the princess couldn’t get comfortable. Lillibet got very little sleep.

The next morning in the dining hall, Prince Rhys began the first meal. The king and queen were picking at their fine food, their eyes were focused on the doorframe. Soon the princess walked into the room not unlike how she did the previous day, with the same bizarre gait and plain clothes, however this time her unmoving face was now wincing.

“Are you all right, my lady?” asked the prince. “No, I don’t suppose I am,” replied Lillibet, “I could barely shut my eyes last night. There was something hard in the bedding that irritated my back something fierce.”

There was a loud clang as the queen’s fork fell from her hand to the plate. “It is true! You are a real princess. My son, your search for a bride is over,” the queen announced. Rhys looked at the queen and furrowed his brows, and Lillibet even cocked her head at the statement, though she wasn’t looking at the queen’s face.

“Could you explain, my dear? How does this prove that this woman is a true princess?” the king asked. “Aha,” said the queen, “I was taught by my mother and my governess that the way to test for a princess was to place a pea underneath many mattresses and have her sleep upon it.

“Only a true princess be so sensitive to the slightest small detail, that she would notice a pea under all that bedding. Only a princess would be so delicate and refined ,” she continued.

The prince took a moment to think. This was the true princess all along? She acted so strange. But he thought that she was far more interesting than the hundreds of other noble ladies he met who all seemed to be the same. Yes, he thought, she is the woman for me.

“Princess Lillibet, I am certain that you are a true princess, and that I have found my bride at last. Will you marry me?” Prince Rhys asked.

Lillibet tried her best to look at the prince’s face. “You are much nicer than the men at my castle. I think I might like to marry you,” the princess replied, “but you must send for my dearest cat. And remove the pea from the mattress.”

Rhys looked at her and smiled. “My lady, you can have whatever you wish,” said the prince.

The next night, and every night after that, the princess had her dinner at the seventh hour precisely and slept on a mattress without any peas underneath it. Soon enough Prince Rhys and Princess Lillibet got married, and they lived happily ever after.

Rationale

I chose to rewrite a story with a character that already seems to meet one of the criteria for autism, and then add in some more “symptoms.” Here is the diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder from our class textbook, and moments in the story that Lillibet matches the criteria.

1. Individual displays continual deficiencies in various areas of communication and social interaction, including the following:

• Social-emotional reciprocity
• Nonverbal communication
• Development and maintenance of relationship

Lillibet said she has no friends other than her cat, struggles with making eye contact and giving facial expressions, and prefers to spend her time alone rather than with others.

2. Individual displays significant restriction and repetition in behaviors, interests, or activities, including two or more of the following:

• Exaggerated and repeated speech patterns, movements, or object use
• Inflexible demand for same routines, statements, and behaviors
• Highly restricted, fixated, and overly intense interests
• Over- or underreactions to sensory input from the environment

Lillibet shows some stimming by flapping her hands (repeated movements), has some echolalia (repeated speech patterns), has a strict routine (dinner time is always the same, won’t eat dinner unless it’s the correct time), has a fixation/interest in animals (requested a bestiary – a book about animals). And of course the over-reaction to sensory input – Lillibet will only wear a certain type of fabric, and she can feel the small pea under all the fabrics

3. Individual develops symptoms by early childhood

The symptoms became noticeable when Lillibet was at least 5.

4. Individual experiences impaired functioning

This was a bit hard to blend in. The best examples are that Lillibet wasn’t allowed to leave the castle because of how she doesn’t fit into the role her royal father wanted her to play.