Nothing warms your heart like the sound of a child's voice asking for a particular bedtime story. I began reading The Goose Girl when my son interrupted, "Mamma, will you read The Twelve Dancing Princesses tonight?" If I could put time in a bottle, this is one of the times I would save! I turned to the first story in the book. It's his favorite. I found this book for a dollar at a used book store. It looks like it's 50 years old, pages are browned, the spine barely hanging together, someone scrawled "Fragile" across the front page. We've had the best time with this book.
A king is sick and tired of his twelve beautiful daughters dancing holes into their shoes every night. He doesn't know how they're doing it because their door is locked every night. He puts out a proclamation that the man who can figure out where the girls are going and how they're getting there; this man shall choose any daughter to marry and! as an added bonus, he shall reign over the country after the king dies. Quite a carrot now isn't it. A bunch of guys try and they all lose their heads. Literally.
One devious guy finds out the princesses' secret and has a little fun doing it. He sees trees with silver leaves the first night, gold leaves the second night, and diamond leaves the third night and plucks a leaf off of each. A magic cloak is involved.
Trees of silver and gold and diamonds, and magic cloaks. Stuff to fill the imagination! It makes happy dreams.
