The Six Swans A Fairytale of Tragedy and Courage
They were in the castle when it happened. One of her brothers heard a sound—a tree twig snapping under the weight of one’s boots—coming from the woods. “It’s father! He’s here!” he said. They went to the window to see if the king had indeed arrived. Sure enough, there was someone approaching from afar off. Full of joy, they ran out to meet him, but what they saw was not something they had expected. A woman walked towards them, carrying what seemed to be fabric in one hand, and a ball of yarn in the other. The girl watched it all from her window as it happened. The woman threw shirts made of white silk over each of her brothers. As soon as the shirts touched them their bodies went through a change. Their skin melted away only to be replaced with feathers. Their bodies shrunk into a fraction of what their height had been. Their necks became long and slender, and their hands morphed into wings. They had transformed into swans. Six swans replaced her six brothers who had been standing in the courtyard. And they flew away over the woods, into a world where their little sister could no longer reach them. The woman had disappeared, and her father came a few hours too late.
“What happened here? Where are your brothers?” asked the king when he saw his daughter distraught, kneeling in the courtyard in front of a pile of feathers. “Oh, dear father,” she answered, “they have gone away and left me alone.” “Who? Who has gone away?” the king asked.
“they have gone away and left me alone”
She told him what she had seen. The woman, her brothers, and the swans. She showed him the feathers which her brothers had left behind when they flew away, clutching them in her hands close to her heart as if doing so would bring them back to her. The king mourned, but he did not think that his new wife had done this wicked deed, even if he did not fully trust her. He had married her as a condition for a promise he should have never made. He kept his children hidden away from her in this secluded castle in the woods for fear that she would mistreat them, even do them harm, when she became their stepmother. But even she was not capable of committing this evil. Surely not. He refused to believe it. Fearing that his daughter would be stolen away from him as well, he wanted to take her away with him and hide her forever. But she was afraid of her stepmother, and begged the king to let her stay just one more night in the castle in the woods, and so he consented.
When night came, however, she ran away. “I can no longer stay here. I must go look for my brothers,” the poor girl thought to herself. She walked the whole night long through the woods without stopping, and the next day as well, until she was too tired to walk any further. Then she stumbled upon an old hunter’s hut and cautiously went inside. There were six little beds in one of the rooms, but she dared not sleep in them. She crawled under one of the beds, intending to spend the night there. Then suddenly, she heard a rushing wind. Six swans flew through the window and landed on the floor. They blew on one another and their feathers fell off, revealing themselves to be her brothers. She crawled out from under the bed, overjoyed that she was once again united with her dear brothers. But their happiness did not last long. “You cannot stay here,” they said. “This is a robber’s den. If they come home and find you, they will murder you.” “Can’t you protect me?” asked the little sister. “No,” they answered. “We can take off our swan-skins for only a quarter-hour each evening when the sun goes down. Only during that time do we revert back to our human forms. After that, we are again transformed into swans.” Crying, the girl asked, “Isn’t there something we can do?”
“she resolved in her heart to redeem her brothers” The brothers looked sadly at her, their eyes filled with deep love and sorrow for their dear youngest sister. “Alas, no,” they answered solemnly, “The cost is too great. You would not be allowed to speak or laugh for six years, and in that time you would have to sew together six little shirts from starwort for us. And if a single word were to come from your mouth, all your work would be lost.” No sooner after they had spoken, the quarter-hour was over, and they flew out the window as swans once more. The girl crumpled to the floor in grief, wondering why did this have to happen to them. Nevertheless, she resolved in her heart to redeem her brothers, even if it should cost her her life. She left the hunter’s hut and spent the night in a tree that was to be her home for a long while.
The next morning she went out and began the arduous task of gathering starwort. The starwort plant seems soft like feathers, with its delicate, starlike flowers and grey-green foliage. But its strong stems are barbed with tiny needles that pierce into your skin and burrow deep into your flesh, causing it to swell and redden and throb, with the pain only subsiding once every trace of the poison is removed.
The girl cut the stems, enduring the sting of the spines tearing at her flesh. She wept in silence, biting her lip not to cry out in pain, and began to sew. She could speak to no one, and had no desire to laugh. And she believed she never would. Not until she had her brothers back.
One day, another king of the land went hunting in the woods where the girl was living and stumbled upon the tree she was sitting in. The king called out to her and asked, “Who are you? What are you doing in that tree?” But she did not answer. He asked her in every language that he knew, but she remained speechless. In spite of this, the king was captivated by her beauty and fell in love with her. He took her to his castle and had her dressed in rich garments. She glistened in her beauty like bright daylight, but still, no one could get a word from her. No one knew anything about her, except that she would toil in pain everyday sewing shirts out of starwort until her fingers were swollen, bloodied and disfigured. Rumours started to spread that she was an evil witch casting a curse, but the king saw within her the quiet strength and gentle courage that no one else did. He did not understand the strange task that she was compelled to do but he desired to marry and protect her nonetheless, and a few days later they did. But the king had a wicked mother who was dissatisfied with their marriage and distrusted the young queen who did not speak.
A year later, after the queen had given birth to her first child, the old woman took the child away while she was asleep and smeared blood on her mouth. She went to the king and accused her of being a cannibal, but he did not believe her and forbade anyone from harming her. Yet the young queen defended not herself but sat the whole time sewing the shirts, caring for nothing else. When she brought another child into the world a second time, the deceitful mother-in-law did the same thing again, but the king still refused to believe her accusations and trusted in his wife’s innocence. The old woman succeeded on her third attempt, however, when the insidious rumours about the young queen finally gave way to the accusations made about her and forced the king’s hand. His people demanded retribution for the loss of the three heirs she had supposedly eaten. When she did not defend herself with a single word, the king had no choice but to bring her to justice and she was sentenced to die by fire.
“Yet the young queen defended not herself but sat the whole time sewing the shirts”
When the day came for the sentence to be carried out, it also marked the last day of the six years since the girl had made the vow of silence to save her brothers. Five shirts were finished, but the left sleeve of the sixth was incomplete. As she was led to the stake, she laid the shirts on her arm, desperately hoping that it would be enough. Standing there, she looked around, but there was no bird in flight. Her brothers were nowhere to be found. Then, just as the fire was about to be lit, six swans came flying through the air. Seeing that their redemption was near, her heart leapt with joy. The swans rushed towards her, swooping down so that she could throw the shirts over them. As soon as the shirts touched them their swan-skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her in their own bodies, vigorous and handsome. However, the youngest was missing his left arm. In its place, he had a swan’s wing. They embraced and kissed one another, rejoicing that the curse had finally been broken. Then the queen went to the king, who was greatly moved, and she began to speak for the first time, her voice hoarse from disuse, saying, “Dearest husband, now I may speak and reveal to you that I am innocent, and falsely accused.” She told him of the treachery of the old woman who had taken away their three children and hidden them. Then to the king’s great joy, they were brought forth. As a punishment, the wicked mother-in-law was tied to the stake and burned to ashes. The king and the queen with her brothers lived for many long years in happiness and peace, all except one, the sixth brother who never completely regained his humanity. But that is a story for another time...
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“the youngest was missing his left arm. In its place, he had a swan’s wing”