ONCE on a time a king was hunting in a great wood, and he pursued a wild
animal so eagerly that none of his people could follow him. When evening
came he stood still, and looking round him he found that he had lost his
way; and seeking a path, he found none. Then all at once he saw an old
woman with a nodding head coming up to him; and it was a witch.
"My good woman," said he, "can you show me the way out of the wood?"
"Oh yes, my lord king," answered she, "certainly I can; but I must make
a condition, and if you do not fulfil it, you will never get out of the
wood again, but die there of hunger."
"What is the condition?" asked the king.
"I have a daughter," said the old woman, "who is as fair as any in the
world, and if you will take her for your bride, and make her queen, I
will show you the way out of the wood."
The king consented, because of the difficulty he was in, and the old
woman led him into her little house, and there her daughter was sitting
by the fire.
[Illustration: THE SIX SWANS
"THE SWANS CAME CLOSE UP TO
HER WITH RUSHING WINGS; &
STOOPED ROUND HER; SO THAT
SHE COULD THROW THE SHIRTS
OVER THEM."]
She received the king just as if she had been expecting him, and though
he saw that she was very beautiful, she did not please him, and he could
not look at her without an inward shudder. Nevertheless, he took the
maiden before him on his horse, and the old woman showed him the way,
and soon he was in his royal castle again, where the wedding was
held.
The king had been married before, and his first wife had left seven
children, six boys and one girl, whom he loved better than all the
world, and as he was afraid the step-mother might not behave well to
them, and perhaps would do them some mischief, he took them to a lonely
castle standing in the middle of a wood. There they remained hidden, for
the road to it was so hard to find that the king himself could not have
found it, had it not been for a clew of yarn, possessing wonderful
properties, that a wise woman had given him; when he threw it down
before him, it unrolled itself and showed him the way. And the king went
so often to see his dear children, that the queen was displeased at his
absence; and she became curious and wanted to know what he went out into
the wood for so often alone. She bribed his servants with much money,
and they showed her the secret, and told her of the clew of yarn, which
alone could point out the way; then she gave herself no rest until she
had found out where the king kept the clew, and then she made some
little white silk shirts, and sewed a charm in each, as she had learned
witchcraft of her mother. And once when the king had ridden to the hunt,
she took the little shirts and went into the wood, and the clew of yarn
showed her the way. The children seeing some one in the distance,
thought it was their dear father coming to see them, and came jumping
for joy to meet him. Then the wicked queen threw over each one of the
little shirts, and as soon as the shirts touched their bodies, they were
changed into swans, and flew away through the wood. So the queen went
home very pleased to think she had got rid of her step-children; but the
maiden had not run out with her brothers, and so the queen knew nothing
about her. The next day the king went to see his children, but he found
nobody but his daughter.
"Where are thy brothers?" asked the king.
"Ah, dear father," answered she, "they are gone away and have left me
behind," and then she told him how she had seen from her window her
brothers in the guise of swans fly away through the wood, and she showed
him the feathers which they had let fall in the courtyard, and which she
had picked up. The king was grieved, but he never dreamt that it was
the queen who had done this wicked deed, and as he feared lest the
maiden also should be stolen away from him, he wished to take her away
with him. But she was afraid of the step-mother, and begged the king to
let her remain one more night in the castle in the wood.
Then she said to herself,
"I must stay here no longer, but go and seek for my brothers."
And when the night came, she fled away and went straight into the wood.
She went on all that night and the next day, until she could go no
longer for weariness. At last she saw a rude hut, and she went in and
found a room with six little beds in it; she did not dare to lie down in
one, but she crept under one and lay on the hard boards and wished for
night. When it was near the time of sun-setting she heard a rustling
sound, and saw six swans come flying in at the window. They alighted on
the ground, and blew at one another until they had blown all their
feathers off, and then they stripped off their swan-skin as if it had
been a shirt. And the maiden looked at them and knew them for her
brothers, and was very glad, and crept from under the bed. The brothers
were not less glad when their sister appeared, but their joy did not
last long.
"You must not stay here," said they to her; "this is a robbers' haunt,
and if they were to come and find you here, they would kill you."
"And cannot you defend me?" asked the little sister.
"No," answered they, "for we can only get rid of our swan-skins and keep
our human shape every evening for a quarter of an hour, but after that
we must be changed again into swans."
Their sister wept at hearing this, and said,
"Can nothing be done to set you free?"
"Oh no," answered they, "the work would be too hard for you. For six
whole years you would be obliged never to speak or laugh, and make
during that time six little shirts out of aster-flowers. If you were to
let fall a single word before the work was ended, all would be of no
good."
And just as the brothers had finished telling her this, the quarter of
an hour came to an end, and they changed into swans and flew out of the
window.
But the maiden made up her mind to set her brothers free, even though it
should cost her her life. She left the hut, and going into the middle of
the wood, she climbed a tree, and there passed the night. The next
morning she set to work and gathered asters and began sewing them
together: as for speaking, there was no one to speak to, and as for
laughing, she had no mind to it; so she sat on and looked at nothing but
her work. When she had been going on like this for a long time, it
happened that the king of that country went a-hunting in the wood, and
some of his huntsmen came up to the tree in which the maiden sat. They
called out to her, saying, "Who art thou?" But she gave no answer. "Come
down," cried they; "we will do thee no harm." But she only shook her
head. And when they tormented her further with questions she threw down
to them her gold necklace, hoping they would be content with that. But
they would not leave off, so she threw down to them her girdle, and when
that was no good, her garters, and one after another everything she had
on and could possibly spare, until she had nothing left but her smock.
But all was no good, the huntsmen would not be put off any longer, and
they climbed the tree, carried the maiden off, and brought her to the
king. The king asked, "Who art thou? What wert thou doing in the tree?"
But she answered nothing. He spoke to her in all the languages he knew,
but she remained dumb: but, being very beautiful, the king inclined to
her, and he felt a great love rise up in his heart towards her; and
casting his mantle round her, he put her before him on his horse and
brought her to his castle. Then he caused rich clothing to be put upon
her, and her beauty shone as bright as the morning, but no word would
she utter. He seated her by his side at table, and her modesty and
gentle mien so pleased him, that he said,
"This maiden I choose for wife, and no other in all the world," and
accordingly after a few days they were married.
But the king had a wicked mother, who was displeased with the marriage,
and spoke ill of the young queen.
"Who knows where the maid can have come from?" said she, "and not able
to speak a word! She is not worthy of a king!"
After a year had passed, and the queen brought her first child into the
world, the old woman carried it away, and marked the queen's mouth with
blood as she lay sleeping. Then she went to the king and declared that
his wife was an eater of human flesh. The king would not believe such a
thing, and ordered that no one should do her any harm. And the queen
went on quietly sewing the shirts and caring for nothing else. The next
time that a fine boy was born, the wicked step-mother used the same
deceit, but the king would give no credence to her words, for he said,
"She is too tender and good to do any such thing, and if she were only
not dumb, and could justify herself, then her innocence would be as
clear as day."
When for the third time the old woman stole away the new-born child and
accused the queen, who was unable to say a word in her defence, the king
could do no other but give her up to justice, and she was sentenced to
suffer death by fire.
The day on which her sentence was to be carried out was the very last
one of the sixth year of the years during which she had neither spoken
nor laughed, to free her dear brothers from the evil spell. The six
shirts were ready, all except one which wanted the left sleeve. And when
she was led to the pile of wood, she carried the six shirts on her arm,
and when she mounted the pile and the fire was about to be kindled, all
at once she cried out aloud, for there were six swans coming flying
through the air; and she saw that her deliverance was near, and her
heart beat for joy. The swans came close up to her with rushing wings,
and stooped round her, so that she could throw the shirts over them; and
when that had been done the swan-skins fell off them, and her brothers
stood before her in their own bodies quite safe and sound; but as one
shirt wanted the left sleeve, so the youngest brother had a swan's wing
instead of a left arm. They embraced and kissed each other, and the
queen went up to the king, who looked on full of astonishment, and began
to speak to him and to say,
"Dearest husband, now I may dare to speak and tell you that I am
innocent, and have been falsely accused," and she related to him the
treachery of the step-mother, who had taken away the three children and
hidden them. And she was reconciled to the king with great joy, and the
wicked step-mother was bound to the stake on the pile of wood and burnt
to ashes.
And the king and queen lived many years with their six brothers in peace
and joy.