<P> In 1927, German composer Ernst Toch published an opera based on "The Princess and the Pea", with a libretto by Benno Elkan . Reportedly this opera was very popular in the American student repertoires; the music as well as the English translation (by Marion Farquhar) were praised in a review in Notes . The story was adapted to the musical stage in 1959 as Once Upon a Mattress, with comedian Carol Burnett playing the play's heroine, Princess Winnifred the Woebegone . The musical was revived in 1997 with Sarah Jessica Parker in the role . A television adaptation of "The Princess and the Pea" starred Liza Minnelli in a Faerie Tale Theatre episode in 1984 . The story has been adapted to two films, one full - length animation film in 2002, and a six - minute IMAX production in 2001 . </P> <P> The tale was the basis for a story in The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, wherein the prince decides to slip a bowling ball underneath one hundred mattresses after three years of unsuccessful attempts with the pea . In the morning, the princess comes downstairs and tells the queen, "This might sound odd, but I think you need another mattress . I felt like I was sleeping on a lump as big as a bowling ball ." which satisfies the king and the queen . The princess gets married to the prince, and they live happily, though maybe not completely honestly, ever after . American poet Jane Shore published a poem, "The Princess and the Pea", in the January 1973 issue of Poetry, in which a close dependency between princess and pea is posited: "I lie in my skin as in an ugly coat: / my body owned by the citizens / who ache and turn whenever I turn / on the pea on which so much depends" (13 - 16). Russian writer Evgeny Shvarts incorporates the story, with two other Andersen stories, in his Naked King . </P> <P> Tales of extreme sensitivity are infrequent in world culture but a few have been recorded . As early as the 1st century, Seneca the Younger had mentioned a legend about a Sybaris native who slept on a bed of roses and suffered due to one petal folding over . The 11th - century Kathasaritsagara by Somadeva tells of a young man who claims to be especially fastidious about beds . After sleeping in a bed on top of seven mattresses, and newly made with clean sheets, the young man rises in great pain . A crooked red mark is discovered on his body, and upon investigation a hair is found on the bottom-most mattress of the bed . An Italian tale called "The Most Sensitive Woman" tells of a woman whose foot is bandaged after a jasmine petal falls upon it . The Brothers Grimm included a "Princess on the Pea" tale in an edition of their Kinder - und Hausmärchen, but removed it after they discovered that it belonged to the Danish literary tradition . A few folk tales feature a boy discovering a pea or a bean assumed to be of great value . After the boy enters a castle and is given a bed of straw for the night he tosses and turns in his sleep, attempting to guard his treasure . Some observers are persuaded that the boy is restless because he is unaccustomed to sleeping on straw, and is therefore of aristocratic blood . </P> <P> In the more popular versions of the tale, only one pea is used . However, Charles Boner added in two more peas in his translation of the story upon which Andersen based his tale . Other differences amongst versions can be seen in various numbers of mattresses as well as feather beds . Versions of the story differ based on whether or not the character of the helper is included . The helper, in some cases, tells the princess to pretend as though she slept badly . In other versions, the helper does not appear at all, and the princess decides to lie all on her own . </P>

What is the meaning behind the princess and the pea