The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Part One · The Worn-Out Shoes

Once there was a king who had twelve daughters, and each one was as lovely as the next. They slept together in one big room, in twelve beds standing side by side in a row. Every evening, when the princesses had gone to bed, the king locked their door and bolted it. But every morning, when he opened it again, he found their shoes danced to pieces, and no one in the castle could say how it had happened.

The king was puzzled. He asked his daughters where they went at night, but they only shrugged and said they had slept the whole night long. So he sent word through all the land. "Whoever can find out where my daughters dance," he said, "may choose one of them for his wife, and one day he shall be king. But anyone who tries for three days and three nights and cannot find the answer must go home with nothing."

Before long, a king's son came to try. He was given a little room next to the princesses' bedroom, and the door was left open so that he could watch them. But when evening came, the eldest princess brought him a cup of juice, and she had mixed in a sleeping powder. He drank it down, and soon his eyes were closed. In the morning, all twelve pairs of shoes were worn through again, and the poor prince had seen nothing at all.

The same thing happened on the second night, and on the third. Many other young men came after him from every corner of the land, and every one of them fell asleep long before midnight. The king did not harm any of them, but each one had to leave the castle and go home in disgrace, and the secret of the shoes stayed locked up tight. At last, nobody in the whole kingdom wanted to try anymore.

Part Two · The Soldier and the Cloak

Then a poor soldier, who had been wounded in the wars and could no longer fight, came walking toward the king's city. On the road he met an old woman. "Where are you going?" she asked. "I do not rightly know," said the soldier. "But I would like to find out where the princesses dance their shoes to pieces, and then perhaps I might be king someday." "That is not so hard," said the old woman. "Do not drink what they bring you in the evening, and pretend to be fast asleep."

Then she gave him a little cloak. "Put this on," she said, "and you will be invisible. You can follow the twelve wherever they go." The soldier thanked her kindly and walked on to the castle with a good heart, although he could hardly believe what he had been told. The king was just as kind to him as he had been to all the others, and he gave him a little room next to the twelve beds, where he could keep watch through the night.

When evening came, the eldest princess brought him a cup of juice. But the soldier had tied a sponge under his chin, and he let the juice run down into it without swallowing a single drop. Then he lay down on his bed and began to snore as loudly as he could. In the next room, the twelve princesses heard him, and the eldest laughed. "There is another fool who will not see a thing," she said.

The princesses jumped up, opened their wardrobes and chests, and put on their prettiest dresses. They curled their hair and twirled in front of the mirrors, all except the youngest. "I do not know why," she said, "but I feel uneasy. I think something bad is going to happen to us tonight." "You goose," said the eldest. "You are always afraid of something. Have you forgotten how many princes have tried, and how many have failed?"

When all twelve were ready, the eldest knocked on her bed, and it sank into the floor. Where it had stood, a trapdoor opened, with a staircase leading down. One by one, the princesses went down the steps. The soldier threw his cloak over his shoulders and followed them. Halfway down, he stepped on the youngest princess's dress. "Somebody is holding my dress!" she cried. "Do not be silly," said the eldest. "It must have caught on a nail."

Part Three · The Secret Castle

At the bottom of the stairs, they came to a wonderful avenue of trees. All the leaves were made of silver, and they shimmered in the dim light. "I had better bring back some proof," thought the soldier, and he broke off a twig. Crack! The youngest princess jumped. "Did you hear that?" she said. "Something is wrong." "That is only the princes, who are glad that we are coming," said the eldest.

Next came a second avenue, where all the leaves were gold, and then a third, where they were glittering diamonds that sparkled like frost in the moonlight. The soldier broke a twig from each, and each time there was a loud crack, and each time the youngest princess shivered. Then they came to a great lake. On the shore were twelve little boats, and in every boat sat a handsome prince, waiting for his princess.

Each princess stepped into a boat, and the soldier slipped into the youngest princess's boat, right behind her, as quiet as a shadow. The princes took up their oars, and the twelve boats set out together across the dark water. As the youngest princess's prince rowed, he said, "I do not know why the boat is so heavy today. I am rowing with all my might, and we are hardly moving." "It must be the warm weather," said the youngest princess. "I feel very hot, too."

On the other side of the lake stood a beautiful castle, with lights in every window and music from trumpets and drums. The princes and princesses went inside and danced, and the soldier danced among them, unseen. Whenever a princess lifted her cup, he drank it up first, so that when it reached her lips, it was empty. That frightened the youngest, but the eldest only said, "Do not mind it."

They danced until three in the morning, when their shoes were worn through and they had to stop. The princes rowed them back across the lake, and this time the soldier sat in the eldest princess's boat. At the shore, the princesses promised to come back the next night. Then the soldier ran ahead and jumped into bed, and by the time the twelve of them came up the stairs, tired and sleepy, he was snoring away.

"We are safe," they whispered, and they put their ruined shoes under their beds and went to sleep. The soldier said nothing in the morning. He wanted to see the castle again, so he followed them on the second night and on the third, and everything happened just as before. On the third night, he took a golden cup from the table, to be sure the king would believe him.

When the three days were over, the king called for his daughters and the soldier. "Now tell me," he said, "where do my daughters dance their shoes to pieces?" "In an underground castle," said the soldier, "with twelve princes." He told the king everything, and he showed him the three twigs and the golden cup. The king asked each of his daughters whether the soldier had spoken the truth, and when they saw that it was no use denying it, they confessed it all.

"Which of my daughters do you choose?" asked the king. "I am not young anymore," said the soldier. "Give me the eldest." They were married that very day, with music and dancing until the middle of the night, and the soldier became the heir to the kingdom. The secret stairs under the eldest princess's bed were closed up for good. After that, the king's twelve daughters wore their shoes as long as any shoes should be worn.