The Six Swans

-3-

Now one morning it happened that the King of that country was out hunting, and his huntsmen came to the very tree in which the Princess had hidden herself. She had heard them coming and she had climbed up to her platform where it was hard for them to reach her. They could indeed only just see her but they soon noticed that she was a lovely girl.

"Who are you?" they called.

But she made no answer.

"Come down to us!" they called again. "We won't harm you."

Still no answer, only a shake of the head, which made her golden hair ripple round her shoulders. When the men would not go away she threw down her golden necklace and then her golden girdle, then her dress, hoping that these things would content them.

At last she had nothing left but her white shift.

But they wanted none of these and, at last, one of them climbed up to where she was, so that she had only just time to collect her yarn and her cloth before they carried her down and took her to the King their master. There she stood before the King as he sat on his horse, in her white shift and with her golden hair round her shoulders.

"Who are you?" asked the King, just as the huntsmen had done. "What were you so busy about in that tree?"

But she did not answer.

The King, amazed, repeated the same questions in every language that he knew, but still the girl was as silent as a fish. But the King's heart had been touched by her beauty, and it was not long before he felt that he couldn't be happy unless he took the lovely creature home with him. So he put his royal crimson mantle round her, set her before him on his horse, and rode off with her to his castle. There she was dressed in splendid robes, so that her beauty shone out like sunlight, but still not a word did she speak. She sat by the King's side as they feasted that night in the great hall of the castle and her gentleness and her modest ways pleased him so much that he said to himself that she was the only wife in the world for him. And so, after a few days, the wedding was celebrated and she became Queen.

Now till that day, the old Queen his mother had been chief lady in the castle. She knew well enough of course that one day a daughter-in-law would come and take her place, but she was not at all pleased that, instead of the daughter of some neighbouring King, her son should have chosen a girl that his huntsmen had found in a tree.

"Who knows," thought the old Queen, "where this dumb creature may come from? And what is this work that she is always so busy about? What is sure is that it is not fitting that she should be Queen.'

But the King loved her, so for a long time there was nothing that the old Queen could do.

After a year had passed, the young Queen brought her first child into the world, and, as it happened, the little boy was born just when the King was away in another part of his Kingdom. This was just the opportunity for which the old Queen had been waiting. She took the baby away while the young Queen was sleeping, smeared her lips with blood, and when the King came back told him that his wife had made away with the baby. Fortunately the King would not believe such a tale. But the young Queen of course, could say nothing to tell him that she was innocent. Indeed it did seem strange to the King that she still seemed to care for nothing but the extraordinary work with which her hands were busy all day long and that when she went out, it was never flowers, but always nettles that she gathered.

After another year had passed the young Queen bore a little daughter and the very same thing happened. But when the third time came, and her baby again disappeared, all the wise men of the kingdom grew uneasy. The old Queen still told the same tale. She declared that it was the young Queen who made away with her own babies. So at last she made everyone believe that the young Queen was not only a witch, but a man-eater. As before, not a word could the poor young Queen say to protest her innocence. So at last the King, with a heavy heart, delivered her over to the judges. They tried her and condemned her to be burnt for a witch.

Now the day on which she was to be executed was the very day on which the six years were up, and the very day on which, if she had neither spoken nor laughed and if she had finished her task, her six brothers would be set free. She had not laughed nor spoken and she had almost finished. Only one sleeve of the sixth shirt was still wanting.

So, when the poor young Queen was led out to be burnt, she still had a little hope. She had laid the six shirts on her arm and, when she stood on the pyre and was just going to be tied to the stake, and when the torch was being brought to light the kindling-wood, she began to look around her. There was a great crowd, but because they were all sorry for such a beautiful young woman they were all silent. Then it seemed to her that, in this deep silence, she heard a sound that she had heard before, a strange sound, like a great wind, the sound that swans make as their strong wings beat the air. When she heard that, her joy was great, and it was greater still, when in a moment, six swans began circling in the air above her. As each one circled and swept towards her it sank low, so that she was able to throw one of the shirts over its head. Then feathers and swan-skins dropped off, and her six handsome brothers stood before her in their true shapes. Only the youngest brother, whose sleeve she had not had time to finish, had a swan's wing instead of a left arm.

Then the brothers all embraced and kissed their sister, so that the King her husband wept to see them, and for the first time, in all these years, the young Queen began to speak.

"Dear husband," said she, "you have seen what you have seen and you can guess my secret! I could not speak; if I had, my brothers could never have regained their human forms. Be sure that I am innocent of the three dreadful crimes of which I have been accused." Then she told him all the treachery of the old Queen, but as she told she wept for sorrow, because she did not know what had become of her three children. But the brothers in their swan shape had watched over them, and now three little children were brought to the King, and each one could be known to be the Queen's own child, for like her and her brothers, each child had a star on its forehead.

The wicked old Queen was punished, but the King, and Queen, their children, and her six brothers, lived for many years in happiness and peace.