A king was once hunting in a large wood, and pursued his game so hotly,
that none of his courtiers could follow him. But when evening
approached he stopped, and looking around him perceived that he had
lost himself. He sought a path out of the forest, but could not find
one, and presently he saw an old woman with a nodding head, who came up
to him. “My good woman,” said he to her, “can you not show me the way
out of the forest?” “Oh, yes, my lord King,” she replied, “I can do
that very well, but upon one condition, which if you do not fulfill you
will never again get out of the wood, but will die of hunger.”
“What, then, is this condition?” asked the King.
“I have a daughter,” said the old woman, “who is as beautiful as anyone
you can find in the whole world, and well deserves to be your bride.
Now, if you will make her your Queen, I will show you your way out of
the wood.” In the anxiety of his heart the King consented, and the old
woman led him to her cottage, where the daughter was sitting by a fire.
She received the King as if she had expected him, and he saw at once
that she was very beautiful, but yet she did not quite please him, for
he could not look at her without a secret shuddering. However, after
all, he took the maiden up on his horse, and the old woman showed him
the way, and the King arrived safely at his palace, where the wedding
was to be celebrated.
The King had been married once before, and had seven children by his
first wife, six boys and a girl, whom he loved above everything else in
the world. He became afraid, soon, that the stepmother might not treat
them very well, and might even do them some great injury, so he took
them away to a lonely castle which stood in the midst of a forest. This
castle was so hidden, and the way to it so difficult to discover, that
he himself could not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a
ball of cotton which had the wonderful property, when he threw it
before him, of unrolling itself and showing him the right path. The
King went, however, so often to see his dear children, that the Queen
noticed his absence, became inquisitive, and wished to know what he
went to fetch out of the forest. So she gave his servants a great
quantity of money, and they disclosed to her the secret, and also told
her of the ball of cotton which alone could show the way. She had now
no peace until she discovered where this ball was concealed, and then
she made some fine silken shirts, and, as she had learned of her
mother, she sewed within each one a charm. One day soon after, when the
King was gone out hunting, she took the little shirts and went into the
forest, and the cotton showed her the path. The children, seeing some
one coming in the distance, thought it was their dear father, and ran
out toward her full of joy. Then she threw over each of them a shirt,
which as it touched their bodies changed them into Swans, which flew
away over the forest. The Queen then went home quite contented, and
thought she was free of her stepchildren; but the little girl had not
met her with the brothers, and the Queen did not know of her.
The following day the King went to visit his children, but he found
only the maiden. “Where are your brothers?” asked he. “Ah, dear
father,” she replied, “they are gone away and have left me alone;” and
she told him how she had looked out of the window and seen them changed
into Swans, which had flown over the forest; and then she showed him
the feathers which they had dropped in the courtyard, and which she had
collected together. The King was much grieved, but he did not think
that his wife could have done this wicked deed, and, as he feared the
girl might also be stolen away, he took her with him. She was, however,
so much afraid of the stepmother, that she begged him not to stop more
than one night in the castle.
The poor maiden thought to herself: “This is no longer my place, I will
go and seek my brothers;” and when night came she escaped and went
quite deep into the wood. She walked all night long and great part of
the next day, until she could go no further from weariness. Just then
she saw a rude hut, and walking in she found a room with six little
beds, but she dared not get into one, but crept under, and, laying
herself upon the hard earth, prepared to pass the night there. Just as
the sun was setting, she heard a rustling, and saw six white Swans come
flying in at the window. They settled on the ground and began blowing
one another until they had blown all their feathers off, and their
swan’s down stripped off like a shirt. Then the maiden knew them at
once for her brothers, and gladly crept out from under the bed, and the
brothers were not less glad to see their sister, but their joy was of
short duration. “Here you must not stay,” said they to her; “this is a
robber’s hiding-place; if they should return and find you here, they
will murder you.” “Can you not protect me, then?” inquired the sister.
“No,” they replied, “for we can only lay aside our swan’s feathers for
a quarter of an hour each evening, and for that time we retain our
human form, but afterward we resume our usual appearance.”
Their sister then asked them with tears, “Can you not be restored
again?”
“Oh, no,” replied they, “the conditions are too difficult. For six long
years you must neither speak nor laugh, and during that time you must
sew together for us six little shirts of star flowers, and should there
fall a single word from your lips, then all your labor will be vain.”
Just as the brother finished speaking, the quarter of an hour elapsed,
and they all flew out of the window again like Swans.
The little sister, however, made a solemn resolution to rescue her
brothers or die in the attempt; and she left the cottage, and,
penetrating deep into the forest, passed the night amid the branches of
a tree. The next morning she went out and collected the star flowers to
sew together. She had no one to converse with, and as for laughing she
had no spirits, so there up in the tree she sat, intent only upon her
work. After she had passed some time there, it happened that the King
of that country was hunting in the forest, and his huntsmen came
beneath the tree on which the maiden sat. They called to her and asked,
“Who art thou?” But she gave no answer. “Come down to us,” continued
they, “we will do thee no harm.” She simply shook her head, and, when
they pressed her further with questions, she threw down to them her
gold necklace, hoping therewith to satisfy them. They did not, however,
leave her, and she threw down her girdle, but in vain; and even her
rich dress did not make them desist. At last the hunter himself climbed
the tree and brought down the maiden and took her before the King. The
King asked her, “Who art thou? What dost thou upon that tree? But she
did not answer, and then he asked her, in all the languages that he
knew, but she remained dumb to all, as a fish. Since, however, she was
so beautiful, the King’s heart was touched, and he conceived for her a
strong affection. Then he put around her his cloak, and, placing her
before him on his horse, took her to his castle. There he ordered rich
clothing to be made for her, and, although her beauty shone as the
sun-beams, not a word escaped her. The King placed her by his side at
table, and there her dignified mien and manners so won upon him, that
he said, “This maiden will I to marry, and no other in the world,” and
after some days he was united to her.
Now, the King had a wicked stepmother who was discontented with his
marriage, and spoke evil of the young Queen. “Who knows whence the
wench comes?” said she. “She who cannot speak is not worthy of a King.”
A year after, when the Queen brought her first-born son into the world,
the old woman took him away. Then she went to the King and complained
that the Queen was a murderess. The King, however, would not believe
it, and suffered no one to do any injury to his wife, who sat
composedly sewing at her shirts and paying attention to nothing else.
When a second child was born, the false stepmother used the same
deceit, but the King again would not listen to her words, but said,
“She is too pious and good to act so: could she but speak and defend
herself, her innocence would come to light.” But when again the third
time the old woman stole away the child, and then accused the Queen,
who answered her not a word to the accusation, the King was obliged to
give her up to be tried, and she was condemned to suffer death by fire.
When the time had elapsed, and the sentence was to be carried out,
during which she had neither spoken nor laughed, it was the very day
when her dear brothers should be made free; the six shirts were also
ready, all but the last, which yet wanted the left sleeve. As she was
led to the scaffold she placed the shirts upon her arm, and just as she
had mounted it, and the fire was about to be kindled, she looked round,
and saw six Swans come flying through the air. Her heart leaped for joy
as she perceived her deliverers approaching, and soon the Swans, flying
toward her, alighted so near that she was enabled to throw over them
the shirts, and as soon as she had so done their feathers fell off and
the brothers stood up alive and well; but the youngest wanted his left
arm, instead of which he had a swan’s wing. They embraced and kissed
each other, and the Queen going to the King, who was thunderstruck,
began to say, “Now may I speak, my dear husband, and prove to you that
I am innocent and falsely accused;” and then she told him how the
wicked old woman had stolen away and hidden her three children. When
she had concluded, the King was overcome with joy, and the wicked
stepmother was led to the scaffold and bound to the stake and burned to
ashes.
The King and the Queen forever after lived in peace and prosperity with
their six brothers.