The Twelve Dancing Princesses

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" (also "The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes" or "The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces"; German: Die zertanzten Schuhe) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1815 (KHM 133). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 306.

Charles Deulin collected another, French version in his Contes du Roi Cambrinus (1874), which he credited to the Grimm version. Alexander Afanasyev collected two Russian variants, entitled "The Night Dances", in his Narodnye russkie skazki.

Its closest analogue is the Scottish Kate Crackernuts, where it is a prince who is obliged to dance every night.