The Six Swans

ONCE    THERE   WAS   A   KING   WHOSE    QUEEN    HAD died, leaving him with six sons and a little daughter who was the youngest of them all. He loved the children dearly, and they each, like their dead mother, had a golden star on their foreheads.

Now one day this King was riding in the forest, hunting the wild deer. He chased a great stag so eagerly that it wasn't long before he had left his attendants far behind. On and on he galloped, quite alone, but when, at last, he lost all trace of the stag, he found that not only was he in a part of the forest that was strange to him, but that it was growing dark. What was he to do? He tried this way and he tried that, and the worst of it was that soon he found that he was always getting back to the same place. His horse was so tired that he could urge it on no more.

At last, as he sat bewildered, he saw, coming towards him, an old woman whose head nodded and shook as she walked.

"Good woman," said he, "can you tell me the way out of this forest?"

"Oh yes, Lord King, very easily! But it is a way that you will never find by yourself, and I will only show it to you on one condition."

"What kind of condition is that?" asked the King.

"I have a beautiful daughter,' said the old witch. "She is as beautiful as any maiden in the land and well deserves to be your Queen. Agree to marry her and I will show you the way! If you refuse you will never get out."

"Lead on," answered the King, "and let me at least see this daughter of yours that you say is so beautiful."

So, with the old witch going before and the King leading his tired horse, they soon reached a little hut. There, by the fire, sat one of the most beautiful young women that the King had ever seen. She rose gracefully from her place, just as if she had been expecting him and she greeted him in a soft low voice.

And yet, beautiful as she was, and sweetly as she spoke, the King could not help shuddering as he stood there in the hut and indeed, for a moment or two, he could hardly bear to look at her. But he said to himself that there was really no reason why he should feel like this, and he thought his shuddering must be because of his weariness and the fear he had been in when he found that he was lost in the forest.

The end of it was that the King agreed to the bargain. He would make the beautiful young woman his Queen. He promised that if the old witch would show him the way now, he would come back to fetch his bride as soon as the wedding could be arranged. Then he said farewell and the old woman showed him a quick and easy way back to his own palace.

Now a promise is a promise. Yet still the King did not feel easy in his mind. How could he be sure that the beautiful Queen that he was going to bring home would be good to his children? So he resolved to put them somewhere where he could be sure that they would be out of harm's way. He remembered that he had a castle that lay in a lonely place and was indeed so hard to find that he would scarcely have been able to get to it himself if it had not been that a wise woman had given him a magic ball of yarn. When he threw this ball it would roll along the right path, so that, if he held the end in his hand, he could always find the place.

So, before the wedding, and before he brought home the bride, the children had all been hidden away.

Now the King loved his children very much, so that he often wanted to visit them, and so it was not long before the new Queen noticed that, on one excuse or another, her husband was always riding off alone, and she could not rest till she knew what his secret was.

The Queen offered great sums of money to this ser­vant and that, and at last one of them took the bribe and not only told her about the six sons, but also that the castle where the King had hidden them could only be found by means of the magic ball of yarn.

The wicked Queen said nothing to her husband about what she had found out, but, in secret, she sewed six little shirts of white silk and, having learned many magic arts from her mother the witch, she sewed a charm into each.

Now it happened that the servant had said nothing about the little girl, so, when the six silk shirts were finished, the Queen imagined that, as soon as she could find the bail of yarn, everything would be ready.

At last she managed to discover where the King kept the magic ball, and, watching her opportunity, she took it from its hiding-place, put the little shirts over her arm and throwing the ball before her, off she set, and it wasn’t long before she saw a castle in the distance. The young Princes happened to be watching and when they saw that someone was moving, as usual, on the lonely path that led to their hiding-place, they supposed that it must be their father, so that all six ran joyfully out. But alas! As each came up, the wicked Queen threw one of the little shirts over him, and no sooner had she done this than each boy was turned into a swan which immediately spread its great wings and, first wheeling over the castle, flew far away—over trees, seas and mountains.

Now the little Princess had not run out with her brothers, but, from a window in the castle, she had seen that something was wrong, and then she had seen how six snow-white swans had flown over the castle. But the Queen, who knew nothing about a little sister, thought she had now got rid of all the children and went home delighted.

Next day, when the King went to visit his children as usual, he found no one there but the little girl.

"Alas, dear Father," she said, "they have all gone away and left me alone!" Then she told him as much as she had seen from her high window and she showed him six feathers that the swans had let fall as they flew wheeling over the castle tower.

The King could not believe that it could have been the Queen who had done this wicked thing, but what he did fear was that whoever it was who had done it might also steal the little Princess, so he wanted to take her back with him. But, though she had not been able to see everything clearly, the little girl felt very much afraid of the new Queen, so she begged her father to let her stay just one more night in the lonely castle. At last the King agreed and said he would come next day and then she must come with him.

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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.

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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.