[2] Alexander Afanasyev collected two Russian variants, entitled "The Night Dances", in his Narodnye russkie skazki.

[citation needed] The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, volume 2, in 1815.

But every morning, the king unlocks his daughters' bedroom doors to find their shoes worn out as if they have been dancing all night.

The soldier, remembering the old woman's advice, secretly pours the wine into a sponge he has tied under his chin and lies on his bed, snoring loudly as if he were asleep.

The twelve princesses, assured that the soldier is asleep, dress themselves in fine dancing gowns and escape from their room by a trapdoor beneath the eldest one's bed.

The soldier chooses the eldest princess as his bride for he is no longer a young man, and is made the king's heir.

[5] Victorian editors disliked the "do or die" aspect imposed upon those willing to discover the Princesses' whereabouts, and found ways to avoid it.

Andrew Lang's version has the questing princes vanish and it is revealed they have been enchanted and trapped in the underground world.

The hero of Lang's version is a cowherd named Michael, who marries the youngest princess, Lina, not the eldest.

A French literary version exists, penned by Charles Deulin in his Contes du Roi Cambrinus.