The Twelve Dancing Princesses

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The Twelve Dancing Princesses

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. However, every morning their shoes were found to be quite worn through as if they had been danced in all night. Nobody could find out how it happened, or where the princesses had been.

So the king made it known to all the land that if any person could discover the secret and find out where it was that the princesses danced in the night, he would have the one he liked best to take as his wife, and would be king after his death. But whoever tried and did not succeed, after three days and nights, they would 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 could happen without him 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 and so the king ordered his head to be cut off.

After him came several others; but they all had the same luck, and all lost their lives in the same way.

Now it happened 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 would like to find out where it is that the princesses dance, and then in time I might be a king.'

'Well,' said the old woman, 'that is not a 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 advice, he was 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.

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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 loudly 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 and opened their drawers and boxes, and took out all their fine clothes, and dressed themselves at the mirror, and skipped about as if they were eager to begin dancing.

But the youngest said, 'I don't know why it is, but 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.

Then 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.

However, 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.'

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.'

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But the eldest said, 'It is only our princes, who are shouting for joy at our approach.'

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.

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 as 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 am 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 still invisible, danced with them too. 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. 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, tired sisters slowly came up, they heard him snoring in his bed and they said, 'Now all is quite safe'. Then they undressed themselves, put away their fine clothes, pulled off their shoes, and went to bed.

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In the morning the soldier said nothing about what had happened, but determined to see more of this strange adventure, and went again on the second and third nights. Everything happened just as before: the princesses danced till their shoes were worn to pieces, and then returned home. 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.

The king asked him. 'Where do my twelve daughters dance at night?'

The soldier answered, 'With twelve princes in a castle underground.' 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.

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.

So the king asked the soldier which of the princesses 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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Comments

Submitted by admin on Thu, 03/13/2003 - 08:15

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Though I am a great fan of the Brothers Grimm, I must admit I was a little surprised by the abruptness of this storys end. Effective nonetheless, it does seem the right way to finish on further reflection. Any moralistic overtones would have been a bit heavy-handed. Particularly delighful was the line, "They danced on till three oclock in the morning, and then all their shoes were worn out, so that they were obliged to leave."

Submitted by admin on Sun, 02/01/2004 - 09:58

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pointless

Submitted by admin on Tue, 10/12/2004 - 16:05

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Nice story.I agree with most...the ending is a suprise. It make me wonder whether the doorbell ang whilst typing the ending hence its shocking finish. My opinion - a story as creative as this requires some form of twist to ensure readers remember it. All readers want someone to find out the secret but this poor old chap has just entered a marriage to a woman who probably dislikes him after being a sneaky boy. If the king didnt believe and cut off his head or something it would have been interesting and contain a small moral!

Submitted by admin on Wed, 11/03/2004 - 22:26

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The subject of the story is so fresh to me, which is about twelve princesses’ secret of dancing and the king seeking to find out how it happened and where they danced at night. But I don’t like the end that the old solider married with the eldest princess and be the king’s heir. At the end, the old solider says I am not very young, … “. In my opinion, it might be I am not very young, so I don’t want to choose any one of these beautiful young princesses. I wish they can live happily with the twelve princes showed at night. Even I don’t want to be your heir. My ability is not good enough to overcome administrating a country. I still like traveler’s life, so I want to keep it go on.” Above all is just my clumsy thinking.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/12/2004 - 22:15

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This story was written by Brothers Grimm. When I was a child, I was very like Brother Grimm’s tale, because his story was full of cliff-hanger and I can guess what will happe. The story is the best of I read Brothers Grimm when I was a child, so I remember it very clear. The story full of archimage, and the cloak made me recall Holly Potter. It’s a very funny story…

Submitted by admin on Sun, 01/09/2005 - 01:59

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i agree with most of you, the ending was surpisley really bad. i mean i guess when i hear that the story was part of the brothers grimms collcetion i kinda expected the same kind of style used in the more famous stories such as snowhite or cinderella, but it was a good story besides the endding

Submitted by admin on Wed, 01/19/2005 - 23:17

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Very Good

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/12/2005 - 22:24

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The author doesnt explain how people know things. First: How did the King know dancing was the thing that wore the shoes out? For all he knew, they could have been rubbing them against their beds, or throwing them at the wall! Second: Lets say we take for granted that the king knew it was dancing. Still, how did he know, or why did he suspect, that the twelve princesses werent just dancing in theyre room? It seems the thing most people would think, if they didnt know the truth. Third: How did the old lady know the things she did? Theyre not the kind of things the regular "old lady in the woods" would know. If she was a a witch, or a friend of the princesses, or somebody else who would know these things, why couldnt the author just have said so? Anyway, it was a pretty good story in all other respects!

Submitted by admin on Sat, 07/23/2005 - 02:01

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I am surprised that many of the people who commented here seem to have never read any folktales or classic fairy tales such as these. Granted, stories like this are much more fully appreciated in illustration, and I seem to remember an extension of the ending than the abrupt version we receive here, but it still does not contest the fact that this story was written in a particular style. One should not dismiss the work of literature simply because it does not make sense. I do, however, wish that this story was viewed with illustrations, as that is one of the utmost things in my mind as I read.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/02/2005 - 22:11

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The story is rather simple. I am looking forward to a better ending like how the daughters felt and what the old lady that gave the soldier the advice will do after knowing that the soldier succeed and so on.. otah KR.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/08/2005 - 16:29

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Believe it or not, a common version of this story actually has another part to the ending, which actually makes you question the entire story. The last line is "But the princes were bewitched for as many days as they had danced nights with the twelve." See http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/twelvedancing/index.html This adds another potential moral to the story. You really have to understand the history/beliefs of the times of the story to better understand the possible morales of the story.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 08/13/2005 - 04:51

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I really enjoyed the story but agree with the others about the ending being to abrupt. I think that he should have chosen the younger daughter as his wife and told the elder daughter that because she didnt believe the youngest princess she will never have a chance at the throne.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 10/09/2005 - 07:59

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The story started with some suspense. As a reader i expected something to happen, but nothing happens in the story. Did not like the ending at all. He should not have chosen the eldest daughter as she is not smart like the youngest daughter.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/07/2006 - 04:47

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I like the story, which reminds me of my happy childhood with my grandma in a remote mountain village. As for the ending of the story, it may sounds abrupt for adults, but since it is a story for children, who always hope for a happy ending, it is quite acceptable.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 05/22/2006 - 19:33

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although a wonderful story i must concur in regards to its lack of imaginaive ending. if anyone can see some form of either misandric or femminist transformation possiblilities in this particular storyline please let me know, my mind is running quite blank!

Submitted by admin on Mon, 06/12/2006 - 06:18

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THIS IS A VERY GOOD STORY.I THINK THIS STORY SHOULD BE RED BY EVERYBODY.I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO ENCOURAGE THE AUTHOR OF THIS STORY TO COMPOSE MORE STORIES OF THIS SORT.THEY SHOULD NOT BE UNIVERSAL,BUT SHOULD HAVE A AGE GROUP.
THANKYOU...

Submitted by admin on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 06:54

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I had to do a project 4 a fairy tale. It was my first time reading it and i guess i give it a 9/10. People have always loved my stories i write and i am in year 6. some people think i should publish mine. I reckon the ending was dissapointing because it was a bit boring but scince we have started fairytales at school, I reckon their good writers. they could of done better. 9/10!

Submitted by admin on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 20:38

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I liked this story because its very interesting and I like interesting things. I also like it because I love Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, which is the Barbie movie version of this story.
Rosetta- 6 1/2 years old
Hanna (just typed)

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