Brothers Grimm

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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.
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.' 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. 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.
TOPIC : Brothers Grimm SOURCE : Linguistic Studies ** http://languages.forumactif.org/

Signature : langues