Grimm's Household Tales

Once upon a time, a certain King was hunting in a great forest, and he chased a wild animal so eagerly that none of his attendants could follow him. When evening drew near, he stopped and looked around him, and then he saw that he had lost his way. He searched for a way out but could find none. Then he saw an old woman with a head that nodded constantly, who came toward him, but she was a witch. “Good woman,” he said to her, “can you not show me the way through the forest?” “Oh, yes, Lord King,” she answered, “I certainly can, but on one condition. If you do not fulfill it, you will never get out of the forest, and you will die of hunger in it.”

“What kind of condition is it?” asked the King.

“I have a daughter,” said the old woman, “who is as beautiful as anyone in the world and well deserves to be your wife. If you will make her your Queen, I will show you the way out of the forest.” In the anguish of his heart, the King agreed, and the old woman led him to her little hut, where her daughter was sitting by the fire. She received the King as if she had been expecting him, and he saw that she was very beautiful, but still she did not please him, and he could not look at her without secret horror. After he had taken the young woman up on his horse, the old woman showed him the way, and the King reached his royal palace again, where the wedding was celebrated.

The King had already been married once, and he had seven children by his first wife, six boys and a girl, whom he loved better than anything else in the world. Because he feared that the stepmother might not treat them well and might even do them some injury, he took them to a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a forest. It lay so hidden, and the way was so difficult to find, that he himself would not have found it if a wise woman had not given him a ball of yarn with wonderful properties. When he threw it down in front of him, it unrolled itself and showed him his path. The King, however, went away so often to see his dear children that the Queen noticed his absence. She was curious and wanted to know what he did when he was all alone in the forest. She gave a great deal of money to his servants, and they betrayed the secret to her and told her also about the ball, which alone could point out the way. And now she had no rest until she had learned where the King kept the ball of yarn. Then she made little shirts of white silk, and since she had learned the art of witchcraft from her mother, she sewed a charm inside them. Once, when the King had ridden out to hunt, she took the little shirts and went into the forest, and the ball showed her the way. The children, who saw from a distance that someone was approaching, thought that their dear father was coming to them, and full of joy, they ran to meet him. Then she threw one of the little shirts over each of them, and as soon as the shirts touched their bodies, the boys were changed into swans and flew away over the forest. The Queen went home quite delighted and thought she had gotten rid of her stepchildren, but the girl had not run out with her brothers, and the Queen knew nothing about her. The next day the King went to visit his children, but he found no one except the little girl. “Where are your brothers?” asked the King. “Alas, dear father,” she answered, “they have gone away and left me alone!” She told him that she had seen from her little window how her brothers had flown away over the forest in the shape of swans, and she showed him the feathers that they had let fall in the courtyard and that she had picked up. The King mourned, but he did not think that the Queen had done this wicked deed, and because he feared that the girl would also be stolen away from him, he wanted to take her away with him. But she was afraid of her stepmother and begged the King to let her stay just one more night in the forest castle.

The poor girl thought, “I can no longer stay here. I will go and look for my brothers.” When night came, she ran away and went straight into the forest. She walked the whole night and the next day also without stopping, until she could go no farther for weariness. Then she saw a forest hut and went into it, and she found a room with six little beds. She did not dare to get into one of them, but crept under one and lay down on the hard ground, intending to spend the night there. Just before sunset, however, she heard a rustling and saw six swans come flying in at the window. They landed on the ground and blew at each other, and they blew all the feathers off, and their swan skins came off like shirts. Then the girl looked at them and recognized her brothers. She was glad and crept out from under the bed. The brothers were just as delighted to see their little sister, but their joy was short. “You cannot stay here,” they said to her. “This is a shelter for robbers. If they come home and find you, they will kill you.” “But can you not protect me?” asked the little sister. “No,” they replied, “we can lay aside our swan skins and have our human form for only a quarter of an hour each evening. After that, we are turned into swans again.” The little sister wept and said, “Can you not be set free?” “Alas, no,” they answered, “the conditions are too hard! For six years you may neither speak nor laugh, and in that time you must sew six little shirts of starwort for us. If one single word falls from your lips, all your work will be lost.” When the brothers had said this, the quarter of an hour was over, and they flew out of the window again as swans.

The girl, however, firmly resolved to rescue her brothers, even if it should cost her her life. She left the hut, went into the middle of the forest, seated herself in a tree, and spent the night there. The next morning she went out, gathered starwort, and began to sew. She could not speak to anyone, and she had no desire to laugh; she sat there and looked at nothing but her work. When she had already spent a long time there, it happened that the King of the country was hunting in the forest, and his huntsmen came to the tree where the girl was sitting. They called to her and said, “Who are you?” But she made no answer. “Come down to us,” they said. “We will not do you any harm.” She only shook her head. As they pressed her further with questions, she threw her golden necklace down to them and thought to satisfy them in this way. They, however, did not stop, and then she threw her belt down to them, and when this also did no good, her garters, and little by little everything she had on that she could do without, until she had nothing left but her slip. The huntsmen, however, did not let themselves be turned aside by that, but climbed the tree, brought the girl down, and led her before the King. The King asked, “Who are you? What are you doing in the tree?” But she did not answer. He asked the question in every language that he knew, but she stayed as silent as a fish. Because she was so beautiful, the King’s heart was touched, and he was struck with a great love for her. He put his cloak on her, took her in front of him on his horse, and carried her to his castle. Then he had her dressed in rich garments, and she shone in her beauty like bright daylight, but no word could be drawn from her. He placed her by his side at the table, and her modest manner and courtesy pleased him so much that he said, “She is the one I wish to marry, and no other woman in the world.” After some days he married her.

The King, however, had a wicked mother who was dissatisfied with this marriage and spoke ill of the young Queen. “Who knows,” she said, “where this creature who cannot speak comes from? She is not worthy of a king!” After a year had passed, when the Queen brought her first child into the world, the old woman took it away from her and smeared her mouth with blood as she slept. Then she went to the King and accused the Queen of being a man-eater. The King would not believe it and would not allow anyone to do her any injury. She, however, sat continually sewing at the shirts and cared for nothing else. The next time, when she again bore a beautiful boy, the false mother-in-law used the same treachery, but the King could not bring himself to believe her words. He said, “She is too pious and good to do anything of that kind. If she were not mute and could defend herself, her innocence would come to light.” But when the old woman stole away the newborn child for the third time and accused the Queen, who did not utter one word in her defense, the King could do nothing else but hand her over to justice, and she was sentenced to die by fire.

When the day came for the sentence to be carried out, it was the last day of the six years during which she was not to speak or laugh, and she had freed her dear brothers from the power of the enchantment. The six shirts were ready; only the left sleeve of the sixth was missing. When she was led to the stake, she laid the shirts on her arm, and as she stood up high and the fire was just about to be lit, she looked around and saw six swans coming flying through the air toward her. Then she saw that her rescue was near, and her heart leapt with joy. The swans swept toward her and sank down so that she could throw the shirts over them, and as soon as the shirts touched them, their swan skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her in their own human form, strong and handsome. The youngest lacked only his left arm and had a swan’s wing on his shoulder in its place. They embraced and kissed each other, and the Queen went to the King, who was greatly moved, and she began to speak and said, “Dearest husband, now I may speak and tell you that I am innocent and falsely accused.” She told him about the treachery of the old woman, who had taken away her three children and hidden them. Then, to the great joy of the King, the children were brought there, and as a punishment the wicked mother-in-law was bound to the stake and burned to ashes. But the King and the Queen with her six brothers lived many years in happiness and peace.