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Prologue
The Durham Family
1. The twelve princesses all slept together in a great room, their beds standing side by side.
2. Their room was locked with a great bolt and there was no way that the princesses should have been able to leave, but yet...
3. A poor soldier, recently returned from the wars, heard of the king's mysterious problem...
4. For the king had caused it to be proclaimed that whoever could discover the princesses' secret would have a rich reward...
5. Therefore, the soldier presented himself at the front door of the castle...
6. That night, the soldier slipped on his cloak of invisibility...
7. After midnight, the princesses arose from their beds, put on splendid dresses, and hurried out of their room through the secret door, invisibly followed by the soldier...
8. They went by boat across the water to a splendid castle in the middle of the lake, where they danced all the night long...
9. The next morning the princesses were tired and their shoes were worn out as before. But the soldier knew he had more time before he had to make his report to the king.
10. So the soldier kept his silence and the princesses did not guess that they had been seen.
11. When one prince said, 'The boat is heavy tonight,' the youngest princess said, 'It seems light to me.'
12. And again the princesses slipped through the secret door, and the soldier followed them off the boats onto the magic island as before.
13. And again the princesses danced with their princes all through the night, until the morning was nigh.
14. And the soldier kept his silence still.
15. And the eldest princess laughed and said, 'It is good for the fool that he does not know our secret.'
16. And still the soldier kept his silence, telling no one what he had seen.
17. Now the hour drew near for him to tell the king, and the daughters waited with baited breath for his answer.
18. On the last night, the soldier put on his cloak of invisibility and prepared to follow the princesses as before.
19. And the princesses disembarked and went up to the faery palace, all lit as if for a festival, and the soldier invisibly followed them.
20. And the princesses saw that their secret was known and there was no point in further concealment.
21. The princesses told the whole story to the king, who realized that the soldier had indeed spoken the truth.
A Little Big About This Book...
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