oodengown
Drakestail
The Ratcatcher
The True History of Little Goldenhood
The Golden Branch
The Three Dwarfs
Dapplegrim
The Enchanted Canary
The Twelve Brothers
Rapunzel
The Nettle Spinner
Farmer Weatherbeard
Mother Holle
Minnikin
Bushy Bride
Snowdrop
The Golden Goose
The Seven Foals
The Marvellous Musician
The Story of Sigurd

THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES

I

ONCE upon a time there lived in the village of Montignies-sur-Roc a
little cow-boy, without either father or mother. His real name was
Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove
his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his
head in the air, gaping at nothing.

As he had a white skin, blue eyes, and hair that curled all over his
head, the village girls used to cry after him, 'Well, Star Gazer, what
are you doing?' and Michael would answer, 'Oh, nothing,' and go on his
way without even turning to look at them.

The fact was he thought them very ugly, with their sun-burnt necks,
their great red hands, their coarse petticoats and their wooden shoes.
He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks
were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in
the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his
companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday
fancies, he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess.

II

One morning about the middle of August, just at mid-day when the sun
was hottest, Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread, and went
to sleep under an oak. And while he slept he dreamt that there appeared
before him a beautiful lady, dressed in a robe of cloth of gold, who
said to him: 'Go to the castle of Beloeil, and there you shall marry a
princess.'

That evening the little cow-boy, who had been thinking a great deal
about the advice of the lady in the golden dress, told his dream to the
farm people. But, as was natural, they only laughed at the Star Gazer.

The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under the same
tree. The lady appeared to him a second time, and said: 'Go to the
castle of Beloeil, and you shall marry a princess.'

In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed the same
dream again, but they only laughed at him more than before. 'Never
mind,' he