The Twelve Dancing Princesses

: Grimms' Fairy Tales

There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept in

twelve beds all in one room; and when they went to bed, the doors were

shut and locked up; but every morning their shoes were found to be quite

worn through as if they had been danced in all night; and yet nobody

could find out how it happened, or where they had been.



Then the king made it known to all the land, that if any person could

di
cover the secret, and find out where it was that the princesses

danced in the night, he should have the one he liked best for his

wife, and should be king after his death; but whoever tried and did not

succeed, after three days and nights, should be put to death.



A king's son soon came. He was well entertained, and in the evening was

taken to the chamber next to the one where the princesses lay in their

twelve beds. There he was to sit and watch where they went to dance;

and, in order that nothing might pass without his hearing it, the door

of his chamber was left open. But the king's son soon fell asleep; and

when he awoke in the morning he found that the princesses had all been

dancing, for the soles of their shoes were full of holes. The same thing

happened the second and third night: so the king ordered his head to be

cut off. After him came several others; but they had all the same luck,

and all lost their lives in the same manner.



Now it chanced that an old soldier, who had been wounded in battle

and could fight no longer, passed through the country where this king

reigned: and as he was travelling through a wood, he met an old woman,

who asked him where he was going. 'I hardly know where I am going, or

what I had better do,' said the soldier; 'but I think I should like very

well to find out where it is that the princesses dance, and then in time

I might be a king.' 'Well,' said the old dame, 'that is no very hard

task: only take care not to drink any of the wine which one of the

princesses will bring to you in the evening; and as soon as she leaves

you pretend to be fast asleep.'



Then she gave him a cloak, and said, 'As soon as you put that on

you will become invisible, and you will then be able to follow the

princesses wherever they go.' When the soldier heard all this good

counsel, he determined to try his luck: so he went to the king, and said

he was willing to undertake the task.



He was as well received as the others had been, and the king ordered

fine royal robes to be given him; and when the evening came he was led

to the outer chamber. Just as he was going to lie down, the eldest of

the princesses brought him a cup of wine; but the soldier threw it all

away secretly, taking care not to drink a drop. Then he laid himself

down on his bed, and in a little while began to snore very loud as if

he was fast asleep. When the twelve princesses heard this they laughed

heartily; and the eldest said, 'This fellow too might have done a wiser

thing than lose his life in this way!' Then they rose up and opened

their drawers and boxes, and took out all their fine clothes, and

dressed themselves at the glass, and skipped about as if they were eager

to begin dancing. But the youngest said, 'I don't know how it is, while

you are so happy I feel very uneasy; I am sure some mischance will

befall us.' 'You simpleton,' said the eldest, 'you are always afraid;

have you forgotten how many kings' sons have already watched in vain?

And as for this soldier, even if I had not given him his sleeping

draught, he would have slept soundly enough.'



When they were all ready, they went and looked at the soldier; but he

snored on, and did not stir hand or foot: so they thought they were

quite safe; and the eldest went up to her own bed and clapped her hands,

and the bed sank into the floor and a trap-door flew open. The soldier

saw them going down through the trap-door one after another, the eldest

leading the way; and thinking he had no time to lose, he jumped up, put

on the cloak which the old woman had given him, and followed them;

but in the middle of the stairs he trod on the gown of the youngest

princess, and she cried out to her sisters, 'All is not right; someone

took hold of my gown.' 'You silly creature!' said the eldest, 'it is

nothing but a nail in the wall.' Then down they all went, and at the

bottom they found themselves in a most delightful grove of trees; and

the leaves were all of silver, and glittered and sparkled beautifully.

The soldier wished to take away some token of the place; so he broke

off a little branch, and there came a loud noise from the tree. Then the

youngest daughter said again, 'I am sure all is not right--did not you

hear that noise? That never happened before.' But the eldest said, 'It

is only our princes, who are shouting for joy at our approach.'



Then they came to another grove of trees, where all the leaves were of

gold; and afterwards to a third, where the leaves were all glittering

diamonds. And the soldier broke a branch from each; and every time there

was a loud noise, which made the youngest sister tremble with fear; but

the eldest still said, it was only the princes, who were crying for joy.

So they went on till they came to a great lake; and at the side of the

lake there lay twelve little boats with twelve handsome princes in them,

who seemed to be waiting there for the princesses.



One of the princesses went into each boat, and the soldier stepped into

the same boat with the youngest. As they were rowing over the lake, the

prince who was in the boat with the youngest princess and the soldier

said, 'I do not know why it is, but though I am rowing with all my might

we do not get on so fast as usual, and I am quite tired: the boat

seems very heavy today.' 'It is only the heat of the weather,' said the

princess: 'I feel it very warm too.'



On the other side of the lake stood a fine illuminated castle, from

which came the merry music of horns and trumpets. There they all landed,

and went into the castle, and each prince danced with his princess; and

the soldier, who was all the time invisible, danced with them too; and

when any of the princesses had a cup of wine set by her, he drank it

all up, so that when she put the cup to her mouth it was empty. At this,

too, the youngest sister was terribly frightened, but the eldest always

silenced her. They danced on till three o'clock in the morning, and then

all their shoes were worn out, so that they were obliged to leave off.

The princes rowed them back again over the lake (but this time the

soldier placed himself in the boat with the eldest princess); and on the

opposite shore they took leave of each other, the princesses promising

to come again the next night.



When they came to the stairs, the soldier ran on before the princesses,

and laid himself down; and as the twelve sisters slowly came up very

much tired, they heard him snoring in his bed; so they said, 'Now all

is quite safe'; then they undressed themselves, put away their fine

clothes, pulled off their shoes, and went to bed. In the morning the

soldier said nothing about what had happened, but determined to see more

of this strange adventure, and went again the second and third night;

and every thing happened just as before; the princesses danced each time

till their shoes were worn to pieces, and then returned home. However,

on the third night the soldier carried away one of the golden cups as a

token of where he had been.



As soon as the time came when he was to declare the secret, he was taken

before the king with the three branches and the golden cup; and the

twelve princesses stood listening behind the door to hear what he would

say. And when the king asked him. 'Where do my twelve daughters dance at

night?' he answered, 'With twelve princes in a castle under ground.' And

then he told the king all that had happened, and showed him the three

branches and the golden cup which he had brought with him. Then the king

called for the princesses, and asked them whether what the soldier said

was true: and when they saw that they were discovered, and that it was

of no use to deny what had happened, they confessed it all. And the king

asked the soldier which of them he would choose for his wife; and he

answered, 'I am not very young, so I will have the eldest.'--And they

were married that very day, and the soldier was chosen to be the king's

heir.



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