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; yet nobody could discover how it happened, or where they had been.

Then the king made it known throughout the land: if any person could discover the secret of where the princesses danced each night, he would marry the one he liked best and become king after the king’s death. But whoever tried and did not succeed after three days and nights 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 so 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; and so the king ordered his head to be cut off. After him came several others, but they all met the same fate and 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. As he was traveling 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 should do,’ said the soldier; ‘but I think I should like very well to find out where 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 that 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. The king ordered fine royal robes to be given him, and when evening came, he was led to the outer chamber. Just as he was about to lie down, the eldest of the princesses brought him a cup of wine; but the soldier secretly threw it all away, 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 were 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. They 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, 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, stirring neither hand nor foot. So they thought they were quite safe. The eldest went up to her own bed and clapped her hands, and the bed sank into the floor as a trapdoor flew open. The soldier saw them going down through the trapdoor one after another, the eldest leading the way. Thinking he had no time to lose, he jumped up, put on the cloak 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. 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 you not hear that noise? That never happened before.’ But the eldest said, ‘It is only our princes, who are shouting for joy at our approach.’

Next, 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. 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 crying for joy. So they went on until they came to a great lake. By the side of the lake 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 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 as 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. Each prince danced with his princess, and the soldier, who was all the time invisible, danced with them too. When any of the princesses had a cup of wine set by her, he drank it all up, leaving it empty when she raised it to her lips. At this, too, the youngest sister was terribly frightened, but the eldest always silenced her. They danced on until three o’clock in the morning, and then all their shoes were worn out, so they were obliged to leave off. The princes rowed them back again over the lake (though this time the soldier placed himself in the boat with the eldest princess). 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. As the twelve sisters slowly came up, very 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. Everything happened just as before: the princesses danced each time until 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 for him to declare the secret, he was taken before the king with the three branches and the golden cup. The twelve princesses stood listening behind the door to hear what he would say. When the king asked him, ‘Where do my twelve daughters dance at night?’ he answered, ‘With twelve princes in a castle underground.’ He then told the king all that had happened and showed him the three branches and the golden cup he had brought with him. Then the king called for the princesses and asked them whether what the soldier said was true. When they saw that they were discovered, and that it was of no use to deny what had happened, they confessed it all. 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.’—They were married that very day, and the soldier was chosen to be the king’s heir.