��ˮ����Ƶ

Tale Summary

There once was a king who became lost in a forest, and was so desperate to find his way home that he made a promise to a witch that he would marry her daughter. The king already had six boys and a girl from a previous marriage, and as he was worried that their stepmother may cause them some harm, he hid them in a castle in the middle of the woods, so well that he needed a certain skein of thread to find his way there. His wife became curious as to where he went during the day, and after bribing some servants, heard of the castle and the skein, and made some little white silk shirts, which she had enchanted, to take with her. As she approached the boys thought it was their father coming to visit and ran out to greet him, when the witch's daughter threw the shirts over each of their heads, and they all turned into swans and flew away. When the king next came to visit he found only his daughter, who had not run out when her stepmother came, and learned that his sons had flown away as birds. He wished for his daughter to come home with him, but she persuaded him to let her stay one more night in the castle, during which she snuck off to find her brothers. The next evening she was tired from looking and went inside a little house to rest, finding six little beds.�� When the sun set, six swans flew through the window and blew off their feathers to reveal themselves as her six brothers, who warned her that they were in a robber's house, and also told her that for a quarter hour every evening they could remove their skins. After entreating them, the boys revealed to her that she could save them under the condition that she not speak or laugh for six years, and in that time make six shirts out of stitchweed. The girl left and gathered the plants, setting herself up in a tree to work. A long time later, the king of that land passed nearby and his hunters found the maiden in the tree, and demanded she climb down. She would not speak to them, nor come down, and instead threw pieces of her clothing at them in hopes it would satisfy them. The hunters grabbed her and took her to the king, whom she also would not speak to, but because of her beauty he fell in love instantly and took her to his castle and married her. The king had a wicked mother who disapproved of the queen, and after the maiden’s�� first child was born the woman stole it away and smeared blood on the maiden's mouth. She went to the king and accused his wife of eating their child, but he did not believe it, but this happened again after their second child was born. He still would not believe that his wife did this, but after the third child was stolen away he could not defend her and she was condemned to death by fire. The day that she was to be executed was the day that marked the end of the maiden’s six year sentence, and she had finished all six shirts (except for one that was missing the sleeve). Just before the fire was lit, six swans flew to her and were turned back into her brothers after she dressed them in the shirts (except for the youngest, whose left arm remained a wing where the shirt was unfinished). The queen spoke for the first time and told the king of his mother’s deceit, and so their three children were safely brought back and the wicked woman was burnt to ashes. The king and queen lived happily thenceforth with her six brothers.

��

��