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​The Twelve Dancing Princesses
By the Brothers Grimm

1. There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept in twelve beds all i...

介绍： 周二三四下午2点视频直播：【一直播】英语PK台

微信公众号：【英语PK台】推送直播全文本

京晶抖音：1604401542 趣味英语学习小视频

B站官方：英语PK台 直播视频精华剪辑

​The Twelve Dancing Princesses
By the Brothers Grimm

1. 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.

2. 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. Several knights and even sons of kings came, but they all had the same fate. They somehow all were unable to stay awake all night long and slept while the princesses were out dancing. So, they all did not find out where the sisters went to each night, and lost their lives.

3. 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.'

4. '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.

5. He was as well received as the others had been. When the evening came he was led to the outerchamber. 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.

6. 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. The eldest said in a mockingtone: ‘This soldier is so old. Even if I had not given him his sleeping draught, he would have slept soundly enough.'

7. Then the eldest princess went up to her own bed and clapped her hands, and the bed sank into the floor and a trap-doorflew 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.

8. They came to a grove of trees, where all the leaves were of gold; and afterwards to another forest, where the leaves were all glittering diamonds. 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. They stepped into the boats one by one, and took off to the other side of the lake.

9. On the other side of the lake stood a fine, illuminatedcastle 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. 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. When they came to the stairs back in their castle, 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.

10. In the morning the soldier said nothing about what had happened, but determined to see more of this strange adventure, he followed them again on the second and third nights. Everything happened just as before. On the third night the soldier carried away one of the golden cups out of the castle, as a token of where he had been.

11. As soon as the time came when he was to declare the secret, he was taken before the king with the golden cup. 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 golden cup which he had brought with him.

12. 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. It was a happy marriage despite the age of the old soldier, for he was a good husband to the eldest princess. He and his wife and ruled the country in great manner, and lived happily ever after.

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