Backstage for "The Princesses and the Peas" (Patreon)

This is one of my most popular stories, "The Princesses and the Peas", #24 of the 52 Project.

It's a really popular meme on Tumblr that the princess from the fairy tale "The Princess and the Pea" is autistic. I've seen it multiple places, both before and after I posted this story. I decided to ask the question, why is it valuable to the queen that the woman to marry her son the prince should be autistic?

Yes, of course, originally it was Hans Christian Andersen mythologizing the sensitivity of royalty and had nothing to do with autism, but that's one of the great things about transformative works. You can take an old fairy tale that doesn't really make any sense in the modern day and turn it into a story about accepting parents and autistic love.

For the record, yes, I am autistic, and the princess's stim of tossing a "chain of polished stones" is mine, except I'll settle for shiny plastic beads.