The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Quick Answer

Why This Story Works for Bedtime

It’s a cozy mystery with dreamy imagery—secret stairs, silver forests, music. The ending is orderly and safe, which makes it satisfying before sleep.

Story Synopsis

A king has twelve daughters who sleep in one room. Each morning their shoes are worn through, as if they have danced all night. The king is baffled and worried. He announces that anyone who can discover the secret will be rewarded, but anyone who fails will face punishment. Many try and disappear from the story. A poor soldier hears of the challenge and decides to try. On the road he meets an old woman who warns him not to drink the wine offered by the princesses and gives him a cloak (or charm) that can make him invisible. The soldier agrees to be careful. That night, the princesses offer him a sleeping drink, but he pretends to fall asleep while staying alert. When the princesses think he is out, they dress in beautiful gowns and slip through a hidden trapdoor. The soldier follows quietly, sometimes under the cloak, through a secret stairway into an enchanted world. They pass forests with silver leaves, then gold, then diamonds, until they reach an underground lake. There a boatman ferries them to a glowing palace where music plays and the princesses dance with mysterious partners until dawn. The soldier collects small proof—leaves, a goblet—so he can tell the truth. In the morning he reports what he saw. The king is relieved to know the secret, and the soldier receives his reward. The story closes with the mystery solved and the world back in order.

Story Excerpt

There was once a king who had twelve daughters. They were all lovely, and each one had her own way of smiling and speaking, but they shared one sleeping chamber together. Their beds stood in a neat row, side by side. And every night, when the last candle had been snuffed and the princesses lay down, the king himself came to the door. He locked it and slid heavy bolts into place. Yet every morning, when he returned and opened the door, he found the same puzzling thing: the twelve pairs of shoes were worn through, as if the princesses had danced for hours and hours. The king questioned them kindly but firmly. “My daughters,” he said, “how can it be that your shoes are danced to pieces every night?” The princesses only looked innocent and shook their heads. “We don’t know,” they said. But the king could not rest. At last he made a proclamation throughout the land: whoever could discover where the twelve princesses went to dance at night would be allowed to choose one princess as his wife—and, in time, become king after him. But whoever tried and failed within three nights would be sent away in disgrace, never to return. Many brave young men came, tempted by the promise. One king’s son arrived first, proud and certain. That evening he was led to a small room beside the princesses’ chamber. His bed was made up there, and the door to the princesses’ room was left open so he could keep watch.

In One Glance