The Twelve Dancing Princesses

There was once a king who had twelve daughters, and each one was lovelier than the last. They slept together in one long room, their twelve beds side by side, and every night, once they were in bed, the king locked the door and slid the bolt across. Yet every morning, when he turned the key again, the shoes beside their beds were worn right through, the soles danced into holes. Nobody in the palace could explain it.

At last the king had a proclamation read out through the kingdom. Whoever could discover where the princesses danced at night might choose one of them for his wife and be king after him. But anyone who came forward and failed to find out within three days and three nights would pay for it with his life.

It was not long before a king’s son offered to try. He was made welcome, and that evening a bed was made up for him in the room next to the princesses’ chamber. The door between the two rooms was left open, so that the sisters could do nothing in secret and could go nowhere else. All he had to do was watch.

But his eyelids grew heavy as lead, and he fell asleep. When he woke in the morning, all twelve had been dancing, for their shoes stood there with holes in the soles. The second night went the same way, and the third, and then he lost his life, as the proclamation had promised. Others came after him and undertook the same task, and every one of them failed and paid the same price.

Now it happened that a poor soldier was walking the road toward the town where the king lived. He had a wound that would not let him serve any longer. On the way he met an old woman, who asked him where he was going.

“I hardly know myself,” he said, and added, half in jest, “though I have a mind to find out where the king’s daughters dance their shoes to pieces, and be king afterwards.”

“That is not so difficult,” said the old woman. “Only you must not drink the wine they bring you at night, and you must pretend to be fast asleep.”

Then she gave him a little cloak. “Put this around your shoulders and nobody will see you. Then you can follow the twelve wherever they go.”

The soldier stopped joking after that. He took heart, went to the king and offered himself, and was received as well as any prince before him. Royal clothes were laid out for him, and at bedtime he was led into the room beside the princesses’ chamber.

Just as he was about to lie down, the eldest came in with a cup of wine for him. But he had tied a sponge under his chin, and the wine ran quietly down into it without a drop passing his lips. Then he lay down, and after a little while he began to snore as though he were in the deepest sleep of his life.

The twelve heard him and laughed.

“He could have saved his life,” said the eldest.

They got up, opened wardrobes and chests and cupboards, and brought out beautiful dresses. They turned this way and that in front of the mirrors, delighted at the thought of the dance.

Only the youngest stood still. “I don’t know what it is,” she said. “You are all so happy, and I feel so strange. Something is going to go wrong for us tonight.”

“You silly goose,” said the eldest. “You are frightened of everything. Have you forgotten how many princes have come here for nothing? I need not even have given that soldier a sleeping draught. He would have slept through it all the same.”

When they were ready they looked carefully at the soldier, but his eyes were shut and he never moved or stirred, and they felt quite safe. Then the eldest went to her bed and knocked on it. At once the bed sank into the ground, and one after another the sisters climbed down through the opening, the eldest going first.

The soldier had watched every bit of it. He waited no longer, threw the little cloak around him, and went down last, behind the youngest. Halfway down the stairs he trod on the hem of her dress, and she cried out in fright.

“What was that? Somebody is holding my dress!”

“Don’t be so silly,” said the eldest. “You have caught it on a nail.”

At the bottom of the stairs they came out into a wonderful avenue of trees whose leaves were all of silver, shining and glittering. The soldier thought he had better carry something away to prove where he had been, and he broke a twig from one of the branches. The tree gave a great crack.

The youngest called out again. “Something is wrong. Did you hear that bang?”

“It is a gun fired for joy,” said the eldest, “because the enchantment on our princes will soon be broken.”

After that they came to an avenue where every leaf was of gold, and then to a third where every leaf was a clear, bright diamond. From each the soldier broke off a twig, and each time the tree cracked so loudly that the youngest jumped with fright, and each time the eldest said it was only a salute.

They walked on and came to a wide lake, and on the water lay twelve little boats, with a handsome prince waiting in every one of them. Each took one of the sisters in with him, and the soldier stepped in beside the youngest.

“I can’t think why the boat is so heavy tonight,” said her prince. “I have to row with all my strength to get it across.”

“What could it be,” said the youngest, “except the warm weather? I feel strangely hot myself.”

On the far shore stood a splendid castle, lit up from top to bottom, and out of it came the merry music of trumpets and kettledrums. They rowed over and went inside, and every prince danced with the girl he loved. The soldier danced along with them, unseen, and whenever one of the sisters lifted a cup of wine he drank it dry, so that the cup was empty when it reached her mouth. The youngest was frightened at that too, and the eldest hushed her every time.

They danced until three in the morning, when all the shoes were danced into holes and they had to stop. The princes rowed them back across the lake, and this time the soldier sat in the first boat, beside the eldest. On the shore the sisters said goodbye to their princes and promised to come again the next night.

When they reached the stairs the soldier ran on ahead and lay down in his bed, and by the time the twelve came up slowly and wearily he was snoring loudly enough for all of them to hear.

“We are safe from him,” they said. They took off their beautiful dresses and put them away, set the worn shoes beside the beds, and lay down.

The next morning the soldier said nothing at all. He wanted to see the whole strange business again, so he went with them the second night, and the third. Each time everything happened just as it had the first time, and each time they danced until the shoes fell to pieces. But on the third night he carried a cup away with him as a token.

When the hour came for him to give his answer, he put the three twigs and the cup inside his coat and went to the king, while the twelve stood behind the door and listened.

“Where have my twelve daughters danced their shoes to pieces in the night?” asked the king.

“In an underground castle, with twelve princes,” said the soldier, and he told the whole story from beginning to end and brought out his tokens.

The king sent for his daughters and asked them whether the soldier had told the truth, and when they saw that they were found out and that denying it would do no good, they had to confess everything.

Then the king asked the soldier which of them he would have for his wife.

“I am no longer young,” he answered. “Give me the eldest.”

The wedding was held that same day, and the kingdom was promised to him after the king’s death. As for the princes, they were left under their enchantment for as many days as they had danced nights with the twelve.