There was a king who had twelve beautiful daughters. They slept intwelve beds all in one room; and when they went to bed, the doors wereshut and locked up; but every morning their shoes were found to bequite worn through as if they had been danced in all night; and yetnobody could find out how it happened, or where they had been.
Then the king made it known to all the land, that if any person coulddiscover the secret, and find out where it was that the princessesdanced in the night, he should have the one he liked best for hiswife,

A shepherd`s dog had a master who took no care of him, but often lethim suffer the greatest hunger. At last he could bear it no longer; sohe took to his heels, and off he ran in a very sad and sorrowful mood.On the road he met a sparrow that said to him, “Why are you so sad, myfriend?` “Because,` said the dog, “I am very very hungry, and havenothing to eat.` “If that be all,` answered the sparrow, “come with meinto the next town, and I will soon find you plenty of food.` So onthey went together into the

A king and queen once upon a time reigned in a country a great way off, where there were in those days fairies. Now this king and queen had plenty of money, and plenty of fine clothes to wear, and plenty of good things to eat and drink, and a coach to ride out in every day:but though they had been married many years they had no children, and this grieved them very much indeed. But one day as the queen was walking by the side of the river, at the bottom of the garden, she saw a poor little

In a village dwelt a poor old woman, who had gathered together a dishof beans and wanted to cook them. So she made a fire on her hearth,and that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful ofstraw. When she was emptying the beans into the pan, one droppedwithout her observing it, and lay on the ground beside a straw, andsoon afterwards a burning coal from the fire leapt down to the two.Then the straw began and said: “Dear friends, from whence do you comehere?` The coal replied: “I fortunately sprang out of the fire, and ifI

A shepherd had a faithful dog, called Sultan, who was grown very old,and had lost all his teeth. And one day when the shepherd and his wifewere standing together before the house the shepherd said, “I willshoot old Sultan tomorrow morning, for he is of no use now.` But hiswife said, “Pray let the poor faithful creature live; he has served uswell a great many years, and we ought to give him a livelihood for therest of his days.` “But what can we do with him?` said the shepherd,”he has not a tooth in his head, and the thieves don`t

An honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant tohim a great many years, but was now growing old and every day more andmore unfit for work. His master therefore was tired of keeping him andbegan to think of putting an end to him; but the ass, who saw thatsome mischief was in the wind, took himself slyly off, and began hisjourney towards the great city, “For there,` thought he, “I may turnmusician.`
After he had travelled a little way, he spied a dog lying by theroadside and panting as if he were tired. “What makes you

There was once an old castle, that stood in the middle of a deepgloomy wood, and in the castle lived an old fairy. Now this fairycould take any shape she pleased. All the day long she flew about inthe form of an owl, or crept about the country like a cat; but atnight she always became an old woman again. When any young man camewithin a hundred paces of her castle, he became quite fixed, and couldnot move a step till she came and set him free; which she would not dotill he had given her his word never to

Some men are born to good luck: all they do or try to do comes rightall that falls to them is so much gainall their geese are swansall their cards are trumpstoss them which way you will, they will always, like poor puss, alight upon their legs, and only move on so much the faster. The world may very likely not always think of them as they think of themselves, but what care they for the world? What can it know about the matter?
One of these lucky beings was neighbor Hans. Seven long years he had worked hard for his

A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, and about the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that every night one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o`clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch; and at midnight he