E-STORY 1

THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

Presenter: This is a famous story from Germany, originally told by the Brothers Grimm. The
story is called, “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”.

Once upon a time there was a king who had twelve lovely daughters. They all slept together in
twelve beds in a large room at the top of the king’s palace. At six o’clock every night, the king
made very sure his daughters were safely in bed. He climbed the stairs to their room, kissed each
of them goodnight, and then said, “Sleep well, my dears” and left, locking the door behind him.
Two guards stood before the door all night, making sure the princesses were not disturbed.

One day, the girls’ maids noticed something strange. They found that each princess had
completely worn out her dancing shoes. Every day the chief maid had to ask the king for more
dancing shoes to replace the ones with holes in them. It was a mystery.

The king began to worry. How were his daughters wearing out their dancing shoes? He put two
more guards on the Princesses’ bedroom and all night they listened. But they heard nothing.

The king was so puzzled that he made a proclamation. Any young man, who could find out why
his daughters’ dancing shoes wore out each night, could marry the princess of his choice and
become the next king.

Each man was given one night to solve the mystery. Each man could sit in a chair in the middle of
the princesses’ bedroom for the night. If they failed to solve the mystery, they would have to leave
the country forever. Many young men tried but no one solved the mystery. The dancing shoes of
the twelve princesses were still full of holes and completely worn out each morning.

One day, a young soldier called Grant rode his horse towards the palace. He was going to try to
solve the mystery of the dancing shoes. Ahead of him, he saw an old woman carrying a big bunch
of sticks on her back. As the soldier passed her by, the old woman fell over and her sticks
scattered all over the road. Grant, the soldier, jumped off his horse, held out his hand to the
woman and said, “Here, let me pick up your sticks, my lady. You are tired. Would you like to ride
on my horse for a while and rest?”

“Thank you, young man. How kind.” said the woman. Once the woman was on the horse and her
sticks collected, she said “Where are you riding to, my son?”

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“I know it will be difficult but I am going to try to solve the mystery of the princesses’ dancing
shoes.”

“Aha!” said the old woman, who was really a good witch and not an ordinary woman at all! “That’s
not too difficult, you know. Not difficult at all! As you have helped me, young man, I will help you.
Listen very carefully. You must not drink anything the king’s daughters give you. Not one drop!
And here is a magic cloak. It will make you invisible!” Then the old woman took out a beautiful red
velvet cloak from her bag. “Thank you, dear lady!” said Grant, mystified. When they reached the
city, Grant said goodbye and he went up to the palace.

That evening, at six o’clock, Grant sat on a chair in the Princesses’ bedroom. As her sisters went
to bed, the eldest princess brought him a cup of tea. She said, “Drink this, my lord. It will help you
keep warm.” Grant pretended to drink the tea. But in fact he turned away and poured it into a
sponge he had brought with him. Grant yawned loudly, slumped back into the chair and
pretended to snore. The princesses began to giggle. The eldest said, “Sleep well, soldier, for we
are going out!”

The Princesses quickly dressed themselves in beautiful gowns and did each other’s hair and
began talking to each other about a ball they were going to that night! The soldier was
astonished. How could they go to a ball?

The eldest daughter said, “I feel strange. I feel something could go wrong tonight.” And the
youngest daughter replied “Don’t be silly, Megan! Listen to that silly fool snoring. He will never
wake up.”

Princess Megan went to her bed and turned the bed knob. Immediately a door sprang open
beside it, revealing a winding staircase. The twelve young princesses went down the stairs, one
by one. As the last and youngest princess went through the door, Grant put on his cloak of
invisibility and followed.

The staircase went round and round, down and down, to another door, which opened onto a long
road with trees on either side. Grant marveled at the trees. Their leaves were made of sparkling
silver. He was so surprised at the silver leaves he did not notice that he stepped on the youngest
daughter’s dress.

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“Who is pulling at my dress?” cried the princess. Princess Megan said, “There’s no one, silly. You
caught your dress on a twig!” The group turned into another road, where trees had leaves made
from gold, and then they walked along another road, where the leaves were made of diamonds.

Then the group arrived at a lake where there were twelve little rowing boats with a young prince
waiting in each one. Each princess went to a boat in turn and their princes helped them in.
Grant, the soldier, quickly followed the youngest into her boat. As the prince began to row, he
said, “This boat is much harder to row tonight. I don’t know why.”

They soon arrived at a beautiful ballroom placed at the water’s edge. Out jumped the twelve
princesses and their twelve elfin princes and they all ran towards the beautiful music which came
from the ballroom. Everybody except the invisible soldier began to dance.

Grant watched them for hours until he heard a clock strike. It was four o’clock in the morning.
“Oh!” said the eldest princess, “We must go home!” They ran to the boats and rowed back across
the lake, with Grant, the invisible soldier, in the youngest princess’ boat. Grant ran back along the
roads, picking a leaf from each of the trees – one diamond, one gold, and one silver. He ran up
the winding staircase, ran to his chair and began to snore again. When the eldest princess,
Megan, came back, she stood over Grant and said “We are safe. The young man is still asleep. I
feel sorry for him. At daybreak my father will send him away.”

But the next morning, when the king asked Grant what had happened during the night, Grant said
“My king, your daughters go down a secret staircase out of the palace. They go to a magical
ballroom where they dance with twelve elfin princes until morning.” And to prove it was true, Grant
showed the three leaves of diamonds, gold and silver. The king summoned his daughters. “Is this
true?” he bellowed, showing the girls the leaves. And his daughters confessed. Now the king
turned to Grant. “Well done, soldier. When I die you will rule my kingdom. And you can marry one
of my daughters. Which one will you choose?” And the soldier said, “I would like to marry your
eldest daughter, Megan, if she will have me.” Megan knew Grant was a clever man and would
make a great king. She smiled at him and said, “I will!”

At the wedding feast, the king gave a toast and said, “My twelve naughty daughters disobeyed
me and left my palace to dance. But through them we met a man worthy to be our king.” And
everyone cheered. And of course, everybody danced at the wedding feast until four o’clock in the
morning and completely wore out their dancing shoes.

2007 English by Radio

Presenter: That was the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brother’s Grim. Here
are some questions about the story. You might like to try to answer them.

1. What did the old woman drop when she fell?

2. What did she tell Grant to do?
3. What were the leaves made of on the trees on the first road?
4. In which boat did Grant travel across the lake?
5. What was the time when the Princesses stopped dancing?

Presenter: Here are the answers:

1. She dropped a bundle of sticks.

2. She told him not to drink anything the princesses gave him.
3. The leaves were made of silver.
4. He crossed the lake in the youngest princess’ boat.
5. At four o’clock in the morning.

Presenter: I hope you enjoyed this week’s story and were able to answer the questions. Do

join us again next week at the same time for another E-Story and more English

learning by Radio.

2007 English by Radio