The Story
In a kingdom between two dark forests, a king had twelve daughters, and every one of them was more beautiful than the last. They slept together in twelve beds in a great chamber, and every night when they went to bed the king himself locked and bolted the door. Yet every morning, without fail, their satin dancing shoes were found worn entirely through — the soles thin as paper, full of holes, as if they had danced the whole night long.
No one could account for it. The king offered a magnificent prize: any man who could discover where his daughters danced in the night should have his choice of princess for a wife and inherit the kingdom after the king's death. But if any man tried and failed within three nights, he was to be put to death.
Many princes arrived to try — from near kingdoms and far ones, from across mountains and seas. They were given a chamber adjoining the princesses' room, the door was left open, and they sat and watched through the night. But always, before long, a pleasant drowsiness crept over them, their eyes grew heavy, and when they woke in the morning the princesses' shoes were in tatters and the princes had seen nothing at all. One by one they were led away, having failed.
Now, it happened that a young soldier was traveling home after a long war, his coat faded and his boots worn thin. On a woodland path he met an old woman, bent nearly double over her stick. He greeted her kindly and shared with her his last bread and the water from his canteen. In return, she gave him two gifts: a small flask of wine, and a piece of advice.
"When they bring you wine this evening," she said quietly, "do not drink it. And when the eldest princess speaks to you, pretend to be asleep."
The soldier thanked her and went on his way, thinking her advice unusual but remembering the kindness behind it.
He arrived at the palace and presented himself to the king. He was welcomed, given rich clothes, and shown to the room beside the princesses' chamber. In the evening, the eldest princess herself brought him a goblet of wine. She smiled graciously as she handed it to him. He smiled back, raised it to his lips — and when she looked away, emptied it quietly behind his pillow.
He settled back and closed his eyes. He heard the princesses whispering. Then footsteps. Then the eldest princess saying: "Look — he is fast asleep, just like all the others." And after a long quiet, the sounds of something being moved — a hidden door, perhaps.
The soldier opened one eye a crack. The chamber was empty. Twelve beds stood abandoned. He got up swiftly, dressed, and looked about. Near the bed of the eldest princess he found a trapdoor set into the floor, standing open. A stone staircase wound downward into darkness.
He followed.
The staircase led into an underground passage lined with trees — but they were extraordinary trees, each one with leaves of pure silver that shimmered in a pale underground light. The soldier broke off a small branch as he passed. Crack! The eldest princess stopped and looked back sharply. "What was that noise?" But the other princesses said it was only the sound of joy ahead of them, and she was reassured.
Further along, the trees had leaves of gold, and then, at last, leaves made of diamonds that threw light in all directions like fragments of stars. Each time the soldier broke a branch, the eldest princess startled and looked back, uneasy. The others always found an explanation.
They came to a great underground lake, black and still as glass. On the far shore stood a castle blazing with light, and twelve boats rested at the water's edge, each with a handsome prince standing at the oar. Each of the twelve princesses stepped into a boat with a prince, and the soldier climbed quietly into the boat of the youngest princess and her prince.
The prince rowed hard but the boat seemed heavy. "I can't understand it," he said, "the boat is heavier tonight than usual." The youngest princess looked around nervously, but in the darkness she saw nothing.
On the far shore, in the bright castle, the twelve couples danced — and how they danced! The halls rang with music, the candles blazed, the floors shone. The soldier danced invisibly between them, stealing wine from the princesses' cups when they were not looking. He stayed until the shoes were quite worn through, and then followed them back across the lake, up the passage of diamond trees, gold trees, silver trees, and back up the stone staircase to the chamber.
On the third night, he took three more branches — one of silver, one of gold, one set with diamonds — and on the way back across the lake he kept one of the youngest princess's golden cups.
The next morning, the king summoned him. "Well? Can you tell me where my daughters dance?"
The soldier stood straight. "Yes, Your Majesty. They dance every night underground, in a castle beyond a lake, with twelve princes." He laid out the branches — silver, gold, diamond — and the golden cup.
The king summoned his daughters. They saw the branches and the cup and knew they were discovered. They stood silent a moment. Then the eldest lowered her eyes and told the whole truth — the underground passage, the lake, the princes, the dancing — for there was nothing left to hide.
The king kept his word. The soldier chose the eldest princess, who was closest to his own age and whose sharp eyes had been the wariest throughout. They were married with great joy. The twelve underground princes were punished with an equal number of enchanted years of waiting, for they had lured the princesses away — and in time, when they had learned their lesson, they were released.
The door between the chamber and the stone staircase was sealed with mortar and iron, and the dancing shoes were never worn through again.