The following tales are similar to the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale, AT-306. I have included the English language tales of this type which have been gathered by title by D. L. Ashliman in his A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Sometimes I include tales of other classifications when I deem them relevant to the theme. The tales come from many cultures and are similar to the Twelve Dancing Princesses story in various ways. I have placed the tales in alphabetical order with bibliographic information and links to texts of the stories if a text is available on the internet.

The Danced Out Shoes
Dorani *
Elena the Wise
The Giant-Slayer
The Girl on the Island
Hild, Queen of the Elves
The Invisible Woman 
Katie Crackernuts *
Proserpine (Persephone) Myth *
The Secret Ball
The Seven Iron Slippers *
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces (Cape Verde)
The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces (German) *
The Slippers of the Twelve Princesses *
The Twelve Dancing Princesses (French) *
The Twelve Dancing Princesses (German) *
The Worn-out Dancing Shoes *

* Full text of tale is available online.

A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Thompson, Stith, ed. One Hundred Favorite Folktales. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1974.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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A web version of this tale is available at Dorani.

This tale is AT-306A: The Princess Who Danced in Heaven. This is a Punjab Tale from India.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. "Dorani." The Olive Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1968. (Original published 1907.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Afanasyev, Aleksandr. Russian Fairy Tales. Norbert Guterman, translator. New York: Pantheon Books, 1945.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Villa, Susie Hoogasian. 100 Armenian Tales. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1966.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306A: The Princess Who Danced In Heaven.

An English language version is available in:

O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Tales of Sex and Violence: Folklore, Sacrifice and Danger in the Jaiminiya Brahmana. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Simpson, Jacqueline, ed. Icelandic Folktales and Legends. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306A: The Princess Who Danced In Heaven.

An English language version is available in:

Thundy, Zacharias P., ed. South Indian Folktales of Kadar. Meerut, India: Folklore Institute, 1983.

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A web version of this tale is available at Katie Crackernuts.

An English language version is available in:

Jacobs, Joseph. "Katie Crackernuts." English Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt, 1890.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in deluxe hardcover, hardcover or paperback.

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A web version of this tale is available at Proserpine.

This tale is not classified under an Aarne Thompson number. The myth of Hades and Persephone (Roman: Pluto and Persephone) has many elements similar to Twelve Dancing Princesses. I have included Thomas Bulfinch's rendition of the story since it is out of copyright and easy to read.

An English language version is available in:

Bulfinch, Thomas. "Proserpine." Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable. Boston: S. W. Tilton & Co.. 1855.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Afanasyev, Aleksandr. Russian Fairy Tales. Norbert Guterman, translator. New York: Pantheon Books, 1945.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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Text available at The Seven Iron Slippers.

An English language version is available in:

Pedroso, Consiglieri. Portuguese Folk-Tales. Folk Lore Society Publications, Vol. 9. Miss Henrietta Monteiro, translator. New York: Folk Lore Society Publications, 1882.
[Reprinted: New York: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1969.]
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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A web version of this tale does not exist due to copyright restrictions.

This tale is AT-306.

According to Neil Philip, "The Cape Verde Islands were a Portuguese territory and this story reveals Portuguese origins by its mention of Catholic icons such as St. Anthony and the Virgin Mary. The princess, who dances with 'devils,' clings to pagan ways; for this reason the boy refuses to marry her" (Philip 1997, 72).

An English language version is available in:

Philip, Neil. The Illustrated Book of Fairy Tales. New York: DK Publishing, 1997.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in hardcover.

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This is another title frequently given the German version of the tale. See The Twelve Dancing Princesses (German) below.

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A web version is available at The Slippers of the Twelve Princesses.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Mawr, Mrs. E. B., translator. Roumanian Fairy Tales and Legends. London: H. K. Lewis, 1881.

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A web version is available at The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

This tale is AT-306. Andrew Lang used a translation of a French tale, "Les Douze Princesses Dansantes," by Charles Deulin found in his Contes du Roi Cambinus (1874). Deulin credited his primary source as the Grimms' tale with some motifs borrowed from Basile's Cat Cinderella (Cenerentola) and his own artistic license.

An English language version is available in:

Lang, Andrew, ed. The Red Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1966. (Original published 1890.)
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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The Grimms' version is the one I have annotated on this site at The Annotated Twelve Dancing Princesses.

This tale is AT-306.

An English language version is available in:

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Household Tales. Margaret Hunt, translator. London: George Bell, 1884.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Jack Zipes, translator. New York: Bantam, 1987.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

Opie, Iona and Peter. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.
Amazon.com: Buy the book in paperback.

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This is another title frequently given the German version of the tale. See The Twelve Dancing Princesses (German) above.

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