Dorothée Duntze

In a grand kingdom far away, a baffled king faces an impossible mystery. Every single night, he carefully locks the bedroom door of his twelve beautiful daughters. And yet, every single morning, the princesses awake with their delicate dancing slippers completely worn through, as if they had been spinning and twirling for hours. Desperate for the truth, the king makes a royal proclamation. Any man who can discover exactly where the princesses go at night and how their shoes are destroyed will be rewarded with the kingdom and the hand of a princess in marriage. Soon, a clever and observant soldier arrives at the palace, determined to uncover the magical secret hidden beneath the castle floors. This enchanting retelling of a timeless fairytale brings the mystery and elegance of the twelve secretive sisters to life, drawing readers into a hidden world of midnight music and magic.

Have you ever seen a parade of ridiculous, greedy people stuck together in a long, squirming line? It all starts with a kindhearted but frequently mocked young boy known as Simpleton. When he shares his meager meal with a hungry old man in the forest, his generosity is rewarded with a spectacular prize: a goose with feathers made of pure, gleaming gold. But such a magnificent bird quickly attracts a lot of unwanted attention. Everyone who tries to secretly pluck a valuable golden feather from the magical goose finds themselves instantly and permanently stuck to it. Soon, Simpleton is wandering through the countryside trailing a hilarious, tangled mess of selfish townspeople trying frantically to pull themselves free. The chaotic spectacle is so wildly funny that it achieves the impossible: it makes a famously gloomy princess burst into roaring laughter. According to the kings law, whoever makes the princess laugh gets to marry her. But the stubborn king refuses to give his daughter to a poor boy and sets a series of impossible tests. Can Simpletons good heart overcome the kings tricky challenges?

Discover what happens when a spoiled royal gets a lesson she will never forget. A poor but clever prince wants nothing more than to marry the Emperor's daughter. To win her heart, he sends her his most precious treasures: a flawless rose and a magnificent nightingale. But the superficial princess rejects them simply because they are real and not artificial toys. Undeterred, the prince comes up with a brilliant and tricky plan. He disguises himself, takes a messy job as the castle swineherd, and begins crafting magical, musical toys that the princess desperately wants. To get these fascinating gadgets, she must agree to his increasingly outrageous demands right in the middle of the pigsty. This funny and surprising tale turns typical royalty stories completely upside down. Find out who really holds the power in the palace, and watch as a clever disguise reveals the true, unpolished character of a princess who values silly toys over genuine beauty.