The Wild Swans

The Wild Swans

There once lived a king who had eleven sons and one daughter. He married a wicked queen, and soon after the wedding she turned the princes into eleven wild swans. With a strange cry, they flew up into the clouds and away.

The king asked the queen if she knew where the princes were. She merely smiled and shook her head. At dusk the swans returned. They flew through the open bedroom window of the princess, Eliza.

As the Sun set, their feathers fell off, and Eliza's eleven brothers stood before her. " By day, we fly about as wild swans, " said the oldest brother. " Each night when the Sun sinks, we become human again. "

That night, Eliza dreamed that a fairy came to her. “ Your brothers can be released, " she said. " You must gather nettles from the forest and use them to knit eleven shirts. If the shirts are thrown over the eleven swans, the spell will be broken. "

" Be warned, though, " the fairy added. “ From the moment you start your task until it is finished, you must not speak. The first word you speak will kill your brothers. "