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princess and the pea.

have you noticed that the fairy tales operate on incomplete information? cinderella doesn’t know the way out. shoes appear. sleeping beauty doesn’t know her identity. and destiny cannot be unwritten. snow white doesn’t know the duration of exile. a family appears. rapunzel doesn’t know who will come looking for her.

there’s even a princess whose entire experience is to have a terrible sleep. she doesn’t know there’s a pea hidden under 20 mattresses. she was caught in a storm and sought shelter for the night. she doesn’t know there’s someone looking for her on the other side of a test. there’s a prince everybody wanted and a test everyone else failed. her nervous system tells the truth and that reveals who she is.