The Twelve Dancing Princesses

And Other Fairy Tales

Alfred David, Mary Elizabeth Meek

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Year: 1974
• eBook ISBN:
  9780253013248
• Print ISBN:
  9780253201737

More than two dozen traditional stories from Scandinavia, France, Russia, and beyond, with an enlightening introduction by two folklorists.

Alfred David and Mary Elizabeth Meek have compiled a collection of fairy tales that ranges from the Grimm brothers' inimitable recreations of archetypal folktales to the modern prose charm of James Thurber's Many Moons. The appeal of the stories is wide and varied: the refined intelligence of Perrault, the wondrous imagination of Andersen, the descriptive power of Ruskin, the bittersweet melancholy of Wilde.

These are but a few of the artists represented in this remarkably inclusive selection of works from Germany, Russia, France, Scandinavia, England, and America. Many are in new translations in the modern idiom and all testify eloquently to the unceasing vitality of this literary genre.

Hans Christian Andersen

THE TINDERBOX

A soldier came marching along the highway: One, two! One, two! He had his knapsack on his back and a sword at his side, for he had been to war and now he was on his way home. Then he met an old witch on the highway. She was so hideous that her lower lip hung right down to her chest.

She said, “Good evening, soldier! My, what a pretty sword and a big knapsack you have! You’re a real soldier! Now you shall have as much money as you’d like to have!”

“Thanks, old witch!” said the soldier.

“Do you see that big tree?” said the witch and pointed to a tree beside them. “It’s quite hollow inside. You’re to climb up to the top. Then you’ll see a hole you can slide through, and you’ll come way down inside the tree! I’ll tie a rope around your waist so I can pull you up again when you call me.”

“What’ll I do down in the tree, then?” asked the soldier.

“Fetch money!” said the witch. “Now I’ll tell you: when you’re down at the bottom of the tree, you’ll find yourself in a great hall. It’s quite light, for over a hundred lamps are burning there. Then you’ll see three doors. You can open them, the keys are in them. If you go into the first chamber, you’ll see a big chest in the middle of the floor. On top of it sits a dog with a pair of eyes as big as teacups. But you needn’t pay any attention to that. I’ll give you my blue-checked apron, which you can spread out on the floor. Then go over quickly and get the dog, put him on my apron, open the chest, and take as many shillings as you like! They’re all of copper. But if you’d rather have silver, then go into the next room. There sits a dog with a pair of eyes as big as mill wheels! But you needn’t pay any attention to that. Put him on my apron and take the money. On the other hand, if you’d rather have gold, you can also have that, and as much as you can carry, if you just go into the third chamber. But the dog on the money chest there has a pair of eyes, each one as big as the Round Tower! That’s a real dog, I’ll have you know! But you needn’t pay any attention to that. Just put him on my apron so he won’t do you any harm and take as much gold as you like from the chest.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that!” said the soldier. “But what’ll I get for you, old witch? For I daresay you want something too!”

“No,” said the witch, “not a single shilling will I have! You can just bring me an old tinderbox, which my grandmother forgot the last time she was down there.”

“Well, put the rope around my waist,” said the soldier.

“Here it is,” said the witch, “and here’s my blue-checked apron.”

Then the soldier climbed up into the tree, let himself drop down through the hole, and stood now, as the old witch had said, down in the great hall where the many hundreds of lamps were burning.

Now he unlocked the first door. Ugh! There sat the dog with eyes as big as teacups, and it glowered at him.

“You’re a pretty fellow!” said the soldier, put it on the witch’s apron, and took as many copper shillings as he could get in his pocket. Then he closed the chest, put the dog up on it again, and went into the second chamber. Yeow! There sat the dog with eyes as big as mill wheels.

“You shouldn’t look at me so hard,” said the soldier; “it might strain your eyes!” Then he put the dog on the witch’s apron, but when he saw all the silver coins in the chest, he got rid of all the copper money he had and filled his pocket and his knapsack with only silver. Now he went into the third chamber! My, how hideous it was! The dog in there really did have two eyes as big as the Round Tower, and they rolled around in his head like wheels!

“Good evening,” said the soldier and touched his cap, for he had never seen a dog like that before. But after he had looked at it for a while, he thought, “Now that’s enough,” and lifted it down to the floor and opened the chest. Well, heaven be praised! What a lot of gold there was! He could buy all of Copenhagen with it, and all the gingerbread pigs sold by the cake women, and all the tin soldiers and whips and rocking horses in the world! Yes, that was really a lot of money! Now the soldier threw away all the silver shillings in his pocket and knapsack and took gold instead. Yes, all his pockets, and his knapsack, and his cap and boots were so full that he could hardly walk! Now he had money! He put the dog up on the chest, shut the door, and then shouted up through the tree:

“Pull me up now, old witch!”

“Do you have the tinderbox with you?” asked the witch.

“That’s right,” said the soldier, “I’d clean forgotten it.” And then he went and got it. The witch pulled him up, and now he was standing on the highway again with his pockets, boots, knapsack, and cap full of money.

“What do you want that tinderbox for?” asked the soldier.

“That’s none of your business!” said the witch. “Why, you’ve gotten the money now. Just give me the tinderbox!”

“Fiddlesticks!” said the soldier. “Tell me at once what you want it for, or I’ll draw my sword and chop off your head!”

“No!” said the witch.

Then the soldier chopped off her head. There she lay! But he tied all his money in her apron, carried it like a pack on his back, put the tinderbox in his pocket, and went straight to the town.

It was a lovely town, and he put up at the finest inn and demanded the very best rooms and all the food he liked, for he was rich, now that he had so much money.

The servant who was to polish his boots thought, of course, that they were queer old boots for such a rich gentleman to have, for he hadn’t bought any new ones yet. The next day he got boots to walk in and pretty clothes. Now the soldier had become a fine gentleman, and they told him about all the things to do in their town, and about their king, and what a lovely princess his daughter was.

“Where can she be seen?” asked the soldier.

“She can’t be seen at all,” they said. “She lives in a big copper castle with many walls and towers around it. No one but the king dares go in and out, for it has been prophesied that she will be married to a common soldier, and the king can’t stand that one bit!”

“I’d like to see her, all right,” thought the soldier, but this he wasn’t allowed to do at all.

Now he lived merrily and well, went to the theater, drove in the royal park, and gave lots of money away to the poor; and that was well done! He remembered very well from the old days how bad it is to be penniless! Now he was rich and had fine clothes and many friends who all said what a nice fellow he was, a real cavalier; and the soldier certainly didn’t mind hearing that. But as he spent money every day and didn’t get any back at all, it happened at last that he had no more than two shillings left and had to move from the nice rooms where he had lived to a tiny little room way up under the roof, and he had to brush his boots himself and mend them with a needle; and none of his friends came to see him, for there were so many stairs to climb.

One evening it was quite dark and he couldn’t even buy a candle, but then he remembered there was a little stub in the tinderbox he had taken out of the hollow tree where the witch had helped him. He took out the tinderbox and the candle stub, but just as he struck a light and the sparks flew from the flint, the door flew open and the dog with eyes as big as teacups, which he’d seen down under the tree, stood before him and said, “What does my master command?”

“What’s that?” said the soldier. “Why, this is a funny tinderbox if I can get whatever I like! Get me some money,” he said to the dog. And whoops! It was gone! Whoops! It was back again, holding a bag full of coins in its mouth.

Now the soldier understood what a marvelous tinderbox it was. If he struck it once, the dog that sat on the chest full of copper money came; if he struck it twice, the one with the silver money came; and if he struck it three times, the one with the gold came. Now the soldier moved back down to the lovely rooms again, put on the fine clothing, and then all his friends knew him again right away, and they were so fond of him.

Then one day he thought: “Now it’s really quite odd that no one is allowed to see the princess. Everyone says she’s supposed to be so lovely. But what’s the good of it when she always has to sit inside that big copper castle with all the towers. Can’t I even get to see her at all? Now where’s my tinderbox?” And then he struck a light, and whoops! There stood the dog with eyes as big as teacups.

“I know it’s the middle of the night,” said the soldier, “but I’d so like to see the princess, just for a tiny moment.”

The dog was out of the door at once, and before the soldier had given it a thought, it was back again with the princess. She sat on the dog’s back and was asleep, and she was so lovely that anyone could see that she was a real princess. The soldier couldn’t resist; he had to kiss her, for he was a real soldier.

Then the dog ran back again with the princess. But in the morning, when the king and queen were having their tea, the princess said that she had dreamed such a remarkable dream last night about a dog and a soldier. She had ridden on the dog, and the soldier had kissed her.

“That was a pretty story, indeed!” said the queen.

Now one of the old ladies-in-waiting was to keep watch by the princess’ bed the next night to see if it really were a dream, or what it could be.

The soldier wanted very much to see the lovely princess again, and so the dog came during the night, took her, and ran as fast as it could, but the old lady-in-waiting pulled on a pair of rubber boots and ran after it just as fast. When she saw that they disappeared inside a big house, she drew a big cross on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home and went to bed, and the dog came back with the princess. But when it saw that a cross had been made on the door, it also took a piece of chalk and made crosses on all the doors in the city, and that was wisely done, for now, of course, the lady-in-waiting couldn’t find the right door when there was a cross on every single one.

Early the next morning the king and the queen, the old lady-in-waiting, and all the officers came to see where the princess had been.

“There it is!” said the king when he saw the first door with a cross on it.

“No, there it is, my dear husband,” said the queen, who saw the second door with a cross on it.

“But there’s one and there’s one!” they all said. No matter where they looked, there was a cross on the door. So then they could see that there was no use searching one bit.

But the queen was a very wise woman, who knew about more than just riding in the royal coach. She took her big golden scissors, cut up a large piece of silk, and sewed a lovely little bag. This she filled with small, fine grains of buckwheat, tied it to the princess’ back, and when that was done, clipped a tiny hole in the bag so the grain could dribble out all along the way, wherever the princess went.

That night the dog came again, took the princess on his back, and carried her straight to the soldier, who had fallen in love with her and would have gladly been a prince so he could make her his wife.

The dog didn’t notice at all how the grains dribbled out all the way from the castle to the soldier’s window, where it ran up the wall with the princess. In the morning the king and queen saw where their daughter had been, all right, and so they took the soldier and put him in jail. There he sat! Ugh! How dark and dreary it was! And then they said to him, “Tomorrow you’re to be hanged!” That wasn’t a nice thing to hear, and he had forgotten his tinderbox back at the inn. In the morning he could see the people through the bars in the tiny window, hurrying out of the city to see him hanged. He heard drums and saw the soldiers marching. Everybody was rushing out, including a shoemaker’s apprentice in his leather apron and slippers, who was in such a hurry that one of his slippers flew off and landed right over by the wall where the soldier sat peering out through the iron bars.

“Hey there, shoemaker’s boy, you needn’t be in such a hurry,” said the soldier. “Nothing will happen until I get there. But if you’ll run to my lodgings and fetch my tinderbox, you’ll get four shillings. But then you must really run.” The shoemaker’s boy was only too glad to have four shillings and scurried away after the tinderbox, gave it to the soldier, and—yes, now we shall hear:

Outside the city a big gallows had been built; around it stood the soldiers and many hundreds of thousands of people. The king and the queen sat on a lovely throne right above the judge and the whole court. The soldier was already up on the ladder, but as they were going to put the noose around his neck, he said, oh yes, a sinner is always granted one little innocent wish before he receives his punishment. He would so like to smoke a pipeful of tobacco. After all, it was the last pipe he’d have in this world.

The king didn’t want to say no to that, and so the soldier took out his tinderbox and struck a light: One! Two! Three! And there stood all the dogs: the first with eyes as big as teacups, the second with eyes as big as mill wheels, and the third with eyes as big as the Round Tower.

“Help me now so I won’t be hanged!” said the soldier. And then the dogs flew right at the judge and the whole court, took one by the legs and one by the nose, and tossed them many miles up in the air so they fell down and broke into pieces.

“I won’t!” said the king, but the biggest dog took both him and the queen and threw them after all the others. Then the soldiers were frightened, and all the people shouted: “Little soldier, you shall be our king and have the lovely princess!”

Then they put the soldier in the king’s coach, and all three dogs danced in front and shouted “Hurrah!” And all the boys whistled through their fingers, and the soldiers presented arms. The princess came out of the copper castle and was made queen, and that she liked very well. The wedding lasted eight days, and the dogs sat at the table and made eyes at everybody.

THE SWINEHERD

There was once a poor prince. He had a kingdom that was quite small, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• Peter Christen Asbjörnsen and Jörgen Moe
• Peter Christen Asbjörnsen
• Aleksandr Nikolaevich Afanasiev
• Charles Perrault
• Madame Leprince de Beaumont
• Hans Jacob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
• Wilhelm Hauff
• Hans Christian Andersen
• John Ruskin
• Oscar Wilde
• James Thurber