This is a picture of my personal favorite version of The 12 dancing princesses. It is by Marianna Mayer and is almost the usual version except for it is more about the shepard(it never is a prince that does it isn't it ?) who does the deed rather then about the princesses themselves.
The man is young, a poor boy of about 21 I think. And one day as he is watching his sheep a fairy enchantress appears and tells him to take a job at the palace as gardener. Confused and dazed he does as she says and once he gets there he finds out that a royal gardener is actually needed! So he gets to his job and finds out to his delight that his first job in the mornings is to pick a bouquet for each of the Princesses.
However they are cold and haughty and don't say so much as say "thank you" when he hands them the bouquets. But meanwhile the King was trying to find out "how on earth" his daughters were ruining 12 pairs of dancing shoes per night... Meanwhile peter had a dream and in the dream the same enchantress told him to tend a little plant that she would plant in the garden, And the plant would (if he put it in his buttonhole) give him any thing he wanted. So he tended the little plant and (I'm just going to summerize it from here on) found out how the princesses ruined 12 pairs of dancing slippers per night, Marries Amber (the youngest) and inherits the kingdom.