to sing her to sleep ("Nightingale Lullaby") but Winnifred is kept wide awake. It seems that there is some "lump" under the mattresses that is keeping her from relaxing. She starts counting sheep. Dauntless dresses in his finest to see Winnifred pass the test, but the Queen tells him to his great disappointment that the test has already happened and what it was. Dauntless is heartbroken until Winnifred drowsily stumbles into the throne room while still counting sheep. Everyone is ecstatic that Winnifred has passed but the Queen insists that Dauntless should not throw himself away on Winnifred. Dauntless has had enough of his mother's attempts to control his life and finally yells, "I told you to shut up!". The curse on King Sextimus is lifted (the "mouse"- Dauntless, has metaphorically devoured the "hawk"- Queen Aggravain). Aggravain discovers that she cannot talk and the King can, so Dauntless and Winnifred are free to be married. The King forces the Queen to hop, skip, and jump around the room to everyone's amusement, and with this, she is forced to step down. Finally the real reason why Winnifred passed the test is revealed. After learning about the test, the King, Minstrel, and Jester stuffed the mattresses full of weapons, jousting equipment, and other sharp items. All the items are removed by the Jester in the finale ("Finale"). After the items are removed Winnifred still has trouble sleeping until Dauntless takes the pea out from under the mattress, when she then falls asleep almost immediately. Everyone, in classic fairy-tale tradition, lives happily ever after. Characters Prince Dauntless - The son of Queen Aggravain and King Sextimus, who is slightly childlike, but easily falls in love with the princess just as he has with the many that have come before. Princess Winnifred - The princess that comes from the swamp, who is brought to the castle by Sir Harry. She is also childlike and also much less refined than the rest of the castle's residents. She was far out of where the kingdom had searched for princesses before, but Sir Harry was noble enough to travel to find one like her. Queen Aggravain - The wife of King Sextimus, who makes every princess take the extremely hard tests she creates. She is arrogant and full of herself and is in constant disagreement with the King despite his not being able to talk. King Sextimus