The Six Swans

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But secretly the girl did not mean to go with her father. She meant to go and look for her dear brothers, and so, as soon as night came, she took a few provisions with her and went off alone into the forest. All that night she walked, and all the next day, and at last, when she was almost ready to drop because she was so tired, she saw a little hut. There seemed to be no one about. The window was open and the door was not locked, so in she went, and, looking about her, she found that she was in a good-sized room with six beds in it. Not knowing to whom the hut might belong, she thought it best to hide, so she crept under one of the beds, and there she lay on the hard ground.

Just before sunset she heard a sound that she had heard once before. It was a strange sound, like a great wind, the sound that swans make with their beating wings, and, sure enough, in through the open window flew six great snow-white swans.

As she watched she saw that, as they alighted on the floor of the room, each swan began to blow at the other, so that, in a moment, all the swans' feathers had been blown off, and then she saw now each one stripped off his swan-skin as if it had been a shirt, and at last her six brothers stood before her. You can guess how delighted the girl was, for now she felt that her search had ended. She crept out from under the bed and her brothers received her with joy.

But soon the six Princes began to look sad.

"Alas, dear little sister, it's not safe for you to stay here much longer!" they said. "This hut belongs to a pack of robbers and if they come home and find you here, they will certainly kill you."

"But you would surely protect me?" said she.

"That we cannot do," they answered. "We can only lay off our swan-skins and have back our human shape for a quarter of an hour each day. You will see, in a very little time now we must be swans again."

At this their little sister wept and asked:

"Is it impossible to set you free?"

Then her brothers looked sadder than ever.

"Only you could set us free, little sister, but to do it would be too hard for you."

"Tell me at least how it could be done," said she.

At first they would not tell her, but at last she begged so much that they sorrowfully told her the hard conditions.

For six years she would have neither to speak nor to laugh, and during this time she would have to gather enough nettles to spin, weave, cut and sew six shirts, one for each brother, but if, during the whole long time, she spoke a single word, all her work would be lost.

All too soon the quarter of an hour was over and the brothers became swans once more, and flew out of the window.

Now the girl had at once de­termined in her own mind that, hard as the conditions were and even if it cost her her life, she would break the spell that bound her six dear brothers.

Stay in the hut she could not for fear of the robbers, so once more she went out into the forest, and there she found a hollow tree which would serve her as some sort of shelter. It was a tall tree and half way up it with a few branches she made a sort of platform. Here she slept, and, as soon as it was light, she went out and began to gather nettles. Then and there she began the long work, first spinning and then weaving. There was no one to speak to and, as you can guess, with the nettles stinging her hands she did not feel at all inclined to laugh, so it was easy to keep that part of the hard conditions.

There for a long time she lived, sometimes working outside the tree and sometimes on her platform, and all day she looked at nothing but her work.