The Twelve Dancing Princesses 

Once upon, a time

There was a king with twelve daughters,

Each had a beauty of their own.

Together they slept in one tremendous circler room,

Twelve beds side by side.

At night the king took extra precautions

He bolted, binned and barred their door shut.

To ensure that no Princess would sneak off at night.

But even after all the kings’ hard work,

The Princesses still manage to impair their shoes.

Their shoes were danced to shreds

Each night an extra precaution was made,

But still, the king had no answers.

Tired of being left in the dark

He made proclamation for all to hear.

If there was a lad of any class or kingdom far and wide,

Who could discover where the Princesses go at night.

He who finds out will be greatly compensated,

They may choose the Princess of their liking

To her, he will marry,

And if one day the king shall pass

He may be the one to inherit the kingdom.

However, there was a small catch

For those who don’t succeed they would pay with their life.

 

This proclamation intrigued many lads

Three days they were given,

No more, no less.

Only one at a time could this test be done

First up was a Prince from the neighbor kingdom

The lad was given a room to stay in.

The room was parallel to the Princesses,

A perfect view.

Each night before bed two Princesses entered him room

They offered a glass of wine, which he could not refuse.

The two Princesses left him room and returned to theirs.

The Prince’s eyes became as heavy as a bolder

And when he’d wake up the next day

He was too late.

The Princesses had been dancing all through the night.

This continued for the next two days.

Finally, three days were up

Which meant no good news.

The Prince did not solve the mystery of the twelve dancing Princesses,

So, it was off with his head.

This continued for weeks,

Every three days a new headless Prince.

 

Weeks became months,

There were too many headless Princes to count.

The king grew helpless,

But to his delight, a lad would come along

With a special gift in hand.

 

A young man gave through the kingdom

A soldier he was.

He helped an old lady bring her groceries back home.

And those acts of kindness may have just speared his life.

The old lady was so grateful she gave him some tips.

“Don’t drink the wine those girls offer you at night,

And take this blanket that makes you appear invisible

As you stand in plain sight, now good luck young man.”

The soldier arrived at the castle

And following each tip that old lady gave.

He hid a sponge under his tongue

This made it appear as if he drank it all.

He then pretended to sleep.

Once the Princess believe he was asleep

The eldest sister taps the edge of her bed

Tap, Tap, Tap

 

During this time the soldier take the blanket

That he was given and wraps himself

Just as the old lady said he became invisible.

He followed Princesses through the secret tunnel

That was found underneath their room.

He found himself in a garden

Filled with magnificent flowers and plants.

As beautiful as this garden was

He felt as if something was off.

He witnesses them dance and sings

However, he could not understand the language they were singing in.

As the dancing stopped he raced back into his room

The Princesses returned in the morning

With their worn-out shoes.

The soldier proceeds with the same plan on the second night.

He was right on track

And had already been planning which Princess would be his bride.

But the third night was different you see.

As he followed them down they were no longer dancing.

They formed a circle around him and his blanket flew off.

Hand and hand the Princesses begin to chant

And dance around the poor soldier.

 

Little did he know that the Princesses

Intentions were to overthrow their father.

But they needed a little help.

All those Princes who died before the soldier

Would be buried beneath their chambers.

And all the dancing and singing that went on

Was rituals and incantations.

Because in order to run a kingdom you need an army

An army that will do everything that you say.

Now what better than an army of brainless man

Resurrected from the dead.

But there was one thing these Princesses were missing

To make this army

They need a live sacrifice.

The old lady from before,

Was one of the Princesses under a spell

They lead the soldier to believe

That he would be lucky enough to marry one of them.

No luck was found on his side.

As the chanting and prancing came to a halt.

The Princesses showed him into a box,

And placed that box into the ground.

As the soldiers breathed his last breath,
Their army of the dead arose one by one.

 

When the soldier did not show up to see the king

The king grew curious

The king walking to the room that the Prince was staying in

When he realised that there was no one there

The barged into his daughters’ room.

Where he was kindly greeted by the hundreds of Princes he killed

Only to have the favor returned to him.

 

When the army of the Princesses was done with the father

It was as if there was no king, to begin with.

Out of sight, the Princesses took the Kingdom for themselves

And ran it better than what any man can do themselves.