野天鹅

Long long ago, there was a king. His wife died very early, leaving eleven sons and one daughter named Eliza. All these children were clever and lovely. They lived happily together. A few years later, the king married an evil woman. She didn't like these children, especially little Eliza. One day, while the king and princes were hunting, the queen sent Eliza away to a farmer's house.

When the princes came back, they couldn't find Eliza. They felt angry and went to ask the queen. But the queen cast a spell on them and turned them into eleven wild swans. The wild swans flew out of the palace and flew over the hut where Eliza lived. But they didn't know their little sister was there. Then they flew to the ocean far away.

Eliza was growing up and becoming more and more beautiful. One day, she went to the forest and met an old woman who in fact was a kind fairy. " Your brothers have become eleven wild swans. They have flown to the seashore, " she told Eliza. Eliza missed her brothers very much. She decided to go and find them.

In order to find her brothers, Eliza kept on walking and finally reached the shore. It was almost evening, and eleven wild swans landed on the shore. As soon as the sun went down, they turned into eleven handsome princes. They were Eliza's brothers! The princes told Eliza that the next morning they would fly across the sea to a faraway country. Eliza asked them to take her with them.

At night, the princes weaved a net and put Eliza in it. When the sun rose, the princes turned into wild swans again. They held the net in their beaks and flew over the sea. With Eliza in the net, they flew slowly. When the sun began to set, Eliza felt worried. If they couldn't find the land, the wild swans would become humans, fall into the sea and be drowned. Just then, they saw a piece of land and landed on it before sunset.

Eliza and her brothers settled down in a beautiful forest. One night, Eliza dreamed of the old woman. " Pick nettles and knit eleven capes for your brothers, and then they can be rescued. But you must not speak before the capes are finished, or your brothers will die, " she told Eliza in the dream. The old woman gave Eliza some nettles. Feeling the stinging nettles, Eliza woke up.