The Six Swans

Once upon a time, a king was hunting in a great forest. He chased a wild animal so eagerly that none of his servants could keep up with him. When evening came, he stopped and looked around. He had lost his way. He searched for a path, but found none.

Then he saw an old woman coming toward him. Her head nodded constantly. She was a witch. "Good woman," said the king, "can you show me the way out of the forest?" "Oh yes, my lord king," she answered, "I can do that, but on one condition.

If you do not agree, you will never get out of the forest and will starve to death." "What condition?" asked the king. "I have a daughter," said the old woman, "who is as beautiful as anyone in the world and deserves to be your wife.

If you make her your queen, I will lead you out of the forest." The king was desperate, so he agreed. The old woman led him to her little hut where her daughter sat by the fire. She greeted the king as if she had expected him.

He saw that she was beautiful, but still she did not please him. He could not look at her without secret horror. He took the maiden onto his horse, the old woman showed him the way, and the king reached his palace. The wedding was celebrated.

The king had been married before. His first wife had given him seven children: six boys and one girl. He loved them more than anything in the world. He feared that their stepmother might mistreat them or harm them, so he took them to a lonely castle deep in the forest.

It was so hidden and the path so hard to find that the king himself could not have found it without a magic ball of yarn given to him by a wise woman. When he threw the ball in front of him, it unrolled and showed him the way.

But the king visited his children so often that the queen noticed his absence. She was curious and wanted to know what he did alone in the forest. She bribed his servants, and they told her the secret. They also told her about the magic ball of yarn that showed the way.

Now she could not rest until she learned where the king kept the ball. Then she sewed little shirts of white silk. Since she had learned witchcraft from her mother, she sewed a charm inside each shirt.

One day when the king had gone hunting, she took the shirts and went into the forest. The magic ball showed her the way. The children saw someone coming from far away and thought it was their dear father. Full of joy, they ran to meet her.

She threw a shirt over each boy. As soon as the shirts touched their bodies, they turned into swans and flew away over the forest. The queen went home delighted, thinking she had gotten rid of the stepchildren.

But the girl had not run out with her brothers, and the queen did not know about her. The next day, the king came to visit his children. He found only the little girl. "Where are your brothers?" he asked.

"Alas, dear father," she answered, "they have gone away and left me alone." She told him how she had seen from her window her brothers flying away over the forest as swans. She showed him the feathers they had dropped in the courtyard.

The king was sad, but he did not suspect the queen. He feared the girl might also be taken, so he wanted to bring her home. But she was afraid of her stepmother and begged to stay one more night in the forest castle.

The poor girl thought, "I cannot stay here any longer. I will go and find my brothers." When night came, she ran away into the forest. She walked all night and the next day without stopping until she was too tired to go on. Then she saw a forest hut.

She went inside and found a room with six little beds. She did not dare to lie in one, so she crept under a bed and lay on the hard ground, planning to sleep there. Just before sunset, she heard a rustling sound. Six swans flew in through the window.

They landed on the ground and blew on each other until all the feathers came off. Their swan skins peeled off like shirts. The girl looked at them and recognized her brothers. She was overjoyed and crawled out from under the bed.

The brothers were also delighted to see their little sister, but their joy was short. "You cannot stay here," they said. "This is a robbers' den. If they come home and find you, they will kill you." "But can't you protect me?" asked their sister. "No," they replied.

"Only for a quarter of an hour each evening can we shed our swan skins and be in human form. After that, we turn back into swans." The little sister wept. "Can you not be set free?" she asked. "Alas, no," they answered. "The conditions are too hard.

For six years you must not speak or laugh. During that time you must sew six little shirts of starwort for us. If a single word leaves your lips, all your work will be lost." Just then the quarter of an hour ended, and they flew out the window as swans.

The girl was determined to save her brothers, even if it cost her life. She left the hut and went deep into the forest. She sat in a tree and spent the night there. The next morning she gathered starwort and began to sew.

She could not speak to anyone, and she did not feel like laughing. She sat and looked only at her work. She had been there a long time when the king of that country came hunting in the forest. His huntsmen came to the tree where the girl sat.

They called to her, "Who are you?" She did not answer. "Come down," they said. "We will not hurt you." She only shook her head. They kept asking questions, so she threw down her golden necklace, hoping to satisfy them. But they did not stop.

She threw down her belt, then her garters, and one by one everything she wore until she had only her shift left. Still the huntsmen did not give up. They climbed the tree, brought her down, and led her to the king. The king asked, "Who are you?

What are you doing in the tree?" She did not answer. He asked in every language he knew, but she remained as silent as a fish. She was so beautiful that the king fell deeply in love with her.

He wrapped his cloak around her, lifted her onto his horse, and took her to his castle. He dressed her in rich clothes, and she shone like bright daylight, but she still would not speak.

He seated her beside him at the table, and her modest manners pleased him so much that he said, "I will marry this woman and no one else." After a few days they were married.

But the king had a wicked mother. She was unhappy with the marriage and spoke badly of the young queen. "Who knows where this dumb creature comes from?" she said. "She is not worthy of a king!" After a year, the queen gave birth to her first child.

The old woman took the baby away while the queen slept and smeared the queen's mouth with blood. Then she went to the king and accused the queen of being a cannibal who eats children. The king did not believe it. He would not let anyone harm her.

The queen sat sewing the shirts and cared about nothing else. The next year, she gave birth to another beautiful boy. The wicked stepmother used the same trick again. But the king still could not believe such a thing. "She is too good and pious to do that," he said.

"If she were not mute and could defend herself, her innocence would be clear." When the old woman stole the third newborn child and again accused the queen, the queen did not say a word in her own defense. The king had no choice but to hand her over to justice.

She was sentenced to be burned at the stake.

When the day of execution came, it was the last day of the six years during which she was not allowed to speak or laugh. She had saved her dear brothers from the enchantment. The six shirts were finished, except that the sixth one was missing the left sleeve.

As she was led to the stake, she carried the shirts over her arm. When she stood on the platform and the fire was about to be lit, she looked around. Six swans came flying through the air toward her. Her heart leaped with joy.

The swans swooped down so that she could throw the shirts over them. As the shirts touched their bodies, the swan skins fell off. Her brothers stood before her alive and well, strong and handsome.

Only the youngest brother lacked his left arm, and in its place he had a swan's wing on his shoulder. They embraced and kissed each other. The queen went to the king, who was deeply moved. She began to speak. "Dearest husband, now I may speak and declare that I am innocent.

I have been falsely accused." She told him how the old woman had taken away her three children and hidden them. The children were brought to the king, to his great joy. As punishment, the wicked stepmother was tied to the stake and burned to ashes.

But the king and queen and the six brothers lived happily in peace for many years.