Princess Poppy lived in a beautiful castle, but she was a very picky princess! She wanted *everything* to be just right. One night, a storm came, and Poppy’s big, fancy bed felt bumpy and uncomfortable. She told her mama, the Queen, “This bed is terrible! I can feel every little thing inside it!”
The Queen, wanting her daughter to rest, called for twenty mattresses! They piled them high, then twenty featherbeds went on top. Still, Princess Poppy said, “It’s still not right! I feel something lumpy!” The King sighed. He brought in twenty more mattresses and featherbeds. It was a mountain of fluff!
A little mouse, named Millie, lived under the castle floor. She heard the princess complaining. Millie peeked out and saw the enormous pile of bedding. She scurried up and whispered to the Queen, “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but maybe the princess isn’t feeling the mattresses… maybe she’s feeling something *under* them?”
The Queen was puzzled. She carefully lifted the very bottom mattress. There, nestled amongst the springs, was a tiny, lost pea! But next to the pea was a little, shivering bird with a broken wing. Princess Poppy gasped. She hadn’t felt a pea at all! She had felt the bird’s sadness.
“Oh, the poor little bird!” Princess Poppy cried. She gently scooped up the bird and asked her royal doctor to help. While the doctor cared for the bird, Poppy realized something. She hadn’t been thinking about others, only about her own comfort.
The Queen smiled. “Sometimes, Princess Poppy, the smallest things can bother us, but it’s important to remember to look beyond ourselves.” Poppy agreed. She asked for a smaller, simpler bed, and she invited Millie the mouse to sleep at the foot of it, to keep her company.
That night, Princess Poppy slept soundly. She didn’t feel any lumps or bumps. She felt warm and cozy, not because of the fancy bedding, but because she had been kind and thoughtful. She knew that a kind heart made everything feel just right. And the little bird, with its wing mended, chirped a sweet lullaby.
From that day on, Princess Poppy wasn’t a picky princess anymore. She learned that true comfort comes from kindness, empathy, and a cozy heart, and that’s the best kind of bed to have.