Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner)/The Wild Swans
THE WILD SWANS
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THE PRINCES WERE TURNED INTO ELEVEN BEAUTIFUL WILD SWANS.
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THE WILD SWANS
FAR away from here, in the land where the swallows fly to when we have winter, lived a king who had eleven sons and one daughter, whose name was Elisa. The eleven brothers, who were all princes, went to school with a star on their breast and a saber by their side; they wrote on golden slates with diamond pencils, and knew their lessons by heart just as well as if they had read them from a book. One could see at once that they were princes. Elisa, the sister, sat on a small footstool of plate glass and had a picture-book which cost as much as half the kingdom.
Yes, those children led indeed a happy life, but it was not always to be so.
Their father, who was king of the whole country, married a wicked queen, who was not at all kind to the poor children. On the very first day this became apparent to them. There were great festivities all over the palace, and the children were playing at "having company," but instead of their getting, as usual, all the cakes and roasted apples that could be had, the queen gave them only sand in a tea-cup and said they might pretend it was something nice.
The following week she sent their little sister, Elisa, away to some peasants in the country, and before long she succeeded in getting the king to believe all sorts of things about the poor princes, so that he did not trouble himself any more about them.
"Fly out into the world and shift for yourselves!" said the wicked queen; "fly away like great birds without the power of speech!" but she could not, however, carry out her bad intentions as far as she wished, for the princes were turned into eleven beautiful wild swans. With a strange cry they flew out through the palace windows and away over the park and the forest.
It was still quite early in the morning when they passed the peasant's cottage where their sister lay asleep; here they hovered over the roof, twisting their long necks and flapping their wings, but nobody heard or saw them; they had to set out again, high up toward the clouds, till they came to a great, gloomy forest which reached right down to the shore.
Poor little Elisa was standing in the peasant's parlor, playing with a green leaf, the only plaything she had; she made a hole in the leaf, looked up at the sun through it, and fancied she saw the bright eyes of her brothers, and every time the warm sunbeams shone upon her cheek she thought of all their kisses.
One day passed just like another. When the wind blew through the big hedges of roses outside the cottage, it would whisper to the roses, "Who can be more beautiful than you?" But the roses shook their heads and said, "Elisa!" And when the old woman on a Sunday sat in the doorway reading her hymn-book, the wind would turn over the leaves and say to the book, "Who can be better than you?" "Elisa!" answered the hymn-book; and it was the real truth that the roses and the hymn-book had said.
When she was fifteen years old she was to return home; and when the queen saw how beautiful she was, she became filled with anger" and hatred against her. She would have liked to turn her into a wild swan like her brothers, but she dared not do so at once, as the king would, of course, want to see his daughter.
Early in the morning the queen went into the bath, which was built of marble and adorned with soft cushions and the most beautiful carpets, and she took three toads, kissed them, and said to one of them, " Sit on Elisa's head when she gets into her bath, so that she may become lazy like yourself!" "Sit upon her forehead," she said to the other, "so that she may become ugly like yourself, and her father will not recognize her!" "Rest close to her heart," she whispered to the third; "let her heart become wicked, so that she may suffer through it!" She then put the toads into the clear water, which at once turned a greenish color. She called Elisa, undressed her, and let her go into the water, and as she ducked her head, one of the toads settled itself in her hair, the other on her forehead, and the third on her breast; but Elisa did not seem to notice them. As soon as she stood up, three red poppies were floating on the water; had the animals not been poisonous and had they not been kissed by the queen, they would have been turned into red roses; but they became flowers, however, through resting on her head and near her heart. She was too good and innocent for the witchcraft to have any power over her.
When the wicked queen saw this, she took some walnut juice and rubbed Elisa with it till she became quite brown, besmeared her pretty face with a nasty-smelling salve, and ruffled her lovely hair, so that it was impossible to recognize the beautiful Elisa.
When her father saw her he became quite frightened and said that she was not his daughter. Nobody but the bandog and the swallows would acknowledge her; but they were only humble animals and were of no importance.
Poor Elisa then began to cry and think of her eleven brothers, who were all lost to her. Greatly distressed in mind, she stole out of the palace and walked the whole day across fields and moors till she came to the big forest. She did not know where she wanted to go, but she felt so sad and longed so much for her brothers. No doubt they, like herself, had also been driven out into the world, and she made up her mind she would try to find them.
She had been only a short time in the forest when night set in; she had strayed away from the roads and paths, and so she lay down on the soft moss, said her evening prayers, and leaned her head up against the stump of a tree. All was still and quiet, the air was so mild; and round about, in the grass and on the moss, hundreds of glow-worms were shining like green fire. When she gently touched one of the branches above her, the shining insects fell down to her like shooting-stars.
The whole night long she dreamed about her brothers. They were again playing as children, writing with diamond pencils on golden slates, and looking at the most beautiful picture-book, which cost as much as half the kingdom. But they did not write strokes and pot-hooks as before — no, they wrote about the most valiant deeds which they had performed, and about everything they had seen and gone through. In the picture- book everything was alive — the birds were singing and the people came walking out of the book and spoke to Elisa and her brothers, but when she turned over the leaf, they ran back to their places, so that the pictures should not be disarranged.
When she awoke the sun was already high in the heavens; she could not exactly see it, as the lofty trees spread their branches closely and firmly above her, but its beams were playing through them like a fluttering veil of gold. There came a fragrance from the verdure around her, and the birds almost perched on her shoulder. She heard the splashing of the water from the many springs, which all fell into a lake that had the most beautiful sandy bottom. There were thick bushes growing all round the lake, but in one place the stags had dug out a large opening, and here Elisa got to the water, which was so clear that had not the wind put the branches and bushes into motion, she must have believed that they had been painted on the bottom of the lake, so plainly were all the leaves reflected, both those through which the sun shone and those which were quite in the shade.
As soon as she saw her own face she became quite frightened, so brown and ugly was it; but on wetting her little hand and rubbing her eyes and forehead, the white skin soon shone through. She then took off all her clothes and went into the fresh water, and a lovelier royal child than she could not be found in this world.
When she was dressed again and had plaited her long hair, she went to the sparkling spring, drank out of the hollow of her hand, and wandered farther into the forest, without knowing whither she went. She thought of her brothers and of the kind God, who surely would not desert her. He let the wild forest apples grow, so that the hungry might be satisfied; he showed her such a tree, the branches of which were bent beneath the weight of the fruit, and there she made her midday meal. After having propped up the branches of the tree she walked off into the darkest parts of the forest. It was so quiet that she heard her own footsteps, heard every little dry leaf being crushed under her foot; not a bird was to be seen, nor could any sunbeam penetrate through the great close branches of the trees. The lofty trunks stood so close to one another that when she looked straight before her it appeared as if one barrier of logs close upon another encircled her. Oh, such a solitude she had never known before!
The night was very dark, and not one single little glow-worm glittered in the moss. Quite distressed, she lay down to sleep. She then thought she saw the branches part above her and our Lord looking down upon her with eyes full of tenderness, while little angels peeped out above his head and from under his arms.
When she woke in the morning she did not know whether she had been dreaming, or whether it had all really happened. She had not gone many steps when she met an old woman with a basket of berries, of which the woman gave her some. Elisa asked her if she had not seen eleven princes riding through the forest."No," said the old woman; "but yesterday I saw eleven swans, with golden crowns on their heads, swimming down the river close by."
And she led Elisa some distance farther till they came to a slope, at the bottom of which a river wound its way. The trees on its banks stretched their long, leafy branches across the water to each other, and where they, according to their natural growth, could not reach the other side, the roots had been torn up from the soil, and hung out over the water, with the branches entwined in each other.
Elisa bade farewell to the old woman, and walked along the river till it flowed out into the great, open sea.
The great, glorious ocean lay before the young maiden ; but not a sail was to be seen out there, not a boat was in sight. How was she to continue her journey? She looked at the countless little pebbles on the shore; the water had worn them quite round. Glass, iron, stones, everything that had been washed up by the sea had been shaped by the water, and this was even far softer than her delicate hand.
"It rolls on and on persistently, and the hardest substance must in the end yield to it. I will be just as persistent. Thanks for the lesson you have given me, you clear, rolling waves! One day, my heart tells me, you will carry me to my dear brothers."
Among the sea-weeds that had been washed ashore lay eleven white swans' feathers, which she gathered into a bunch. There were drops of water on them, but whether they were dew-drops or tears, no one could say. It was very lonely there on the shore, but she did not feel it, for the sea was perpetually changing, and presented, in fact, a greater variety of aspects in a few hours than the fresh-water lakes could show in a whole year. If a large black cloud appeared, it was as if the sea meant to say, "I too can look black," and then the wind would begin to blow and the waves to show their white crests; but if the clouds were bathed in the red sunlight and the winds had gone to rest, the sea was like a rose-leaf; now it was green, now white, but however calmly it might rest, there was always a slight motion near the shore; the sea heaved gently, like the breast of a sleeping child.
Just as the sun was setting, Elisa saw eleven wild swans with golden crowns on their heads flying toward land, one behind the other; they looked like a long white sash. Elisa went up the slope and hid herself behind a bush; the swans settled down close to her, and began flapping with their large white wings.
The moment the sun sank below the water's edge the swans' plumage fell off the birds, and there stood eleven handsome princes, Elisa's brothers. She uttered a loud cry, for although they had changed greatly, she knew it was they, she felt it must be they; she ran into their arms and called them by their names, and they became so happy and delighted when they saw her and recognized their little sister, who was now so tall and beautiful. They laughed and they cried, and they soon came to understand how cruel their stepmother had been to them all.
"We brothers," said the eldest, "must fly about as wild swans as long as the sun is in the heavens; when it has gone down we resume our human shape; at sunset we must therefore always take care to be near a resting-place, for if at that time we were to fly toward the clouds, we should, as human beings, be plunged into the depths of the sea. We do not live here; yonder, across the sea, lies a country just as beautiful as this, but the way thither is long; we have to cross the wide sea, and there is no island on the way, on which we could rest for the night; only a lonely little rock which rears its head in the midst of the ocean out there, but it is only just large enough for us all to rest upon it when we sit side by side. If the sea goes high, the water splashes high over us; still we are thankful to the Lord for it. There we pass the night in our human form; without it we should never be able to visit our beloved country, for it takes two of the longest days in the year to accomplish the journey. Only once a year are we allowed to visit our paternal home, and then we can remain here for only eleven days, when we fly over this big forest, from which we can see the palace where we were born and where our father lives, and the lofty tower of the church where our mother lies buried. Here we feel as if we were related to every tree and bush, here the wild horses are running across the plains, just as we saw them in our childhood; here the charcoal-burners are singing the old songs to which we danced as children; here is our native country, to which we are drawn; and here we have found you, our dear little sister. Only two more days can we remain here, and then we must cross the sea to a beautiful country, but it is not our own country. How shall we take you with us? We have neither ship nor boat."
"How shall I be able to save you?" asked the sister.
And so they went on talking together nearly the whole night, and only for a few hours did they get any sleep.
Elisa awoke at the sound of the rustling of the wings as the swans were soaring above her. Her brothers had again been turned into swans and were flying in large circles above her head, till at last they flew far away and out of sight. But one of them, the youngest, remained behind; he laid his head on her lap, while she stroked his white wings, and thus they remained together the whole day. Toward evening the others came back, and when the sun had disappeared they assumed their natural shape. "To-morrow we must fly away from here, and we dare not return for a whole year; but we cannot leave you thus. Have you the courage to accompany us? My arm is strong enough to carry you through the forest. Should not, then, all our wings be strong enough to fly with you across the sea?"
"Yes, take me with you," said Elisa. "They spent the whole night in making a big, strong net of the pliant willow hark and the tough sedges; on this Elisa lay down, and when the sun rose and her brothers had been changed into wild swans, they seized the net with their beaks and Hew high up toward the clouds with their dear sister, who was still asleep. The sunbeams fell right on her face, and one of the swans therefore flew over her head, so that his broad wings could afford her shade.
They were far away from land when Elisa awoke; she thought she was still dreaming, so strange did it seem to her to be carried high up in the air across the sea. By her side lay a branch with delicious ripe berries
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ELSA SAW HER BROTHERS STANDING ROUND HER, ARM IN ARM, WHILE THE SEA DASHED AGAINST THE ROCK.
and a bunch of savory roots, which her youngest brother had gathered and placed at her side. She smiled gratefully to him, for she knew it was he who flew right over her head and shaded her with his wings.
They were so high up that the first ship they saw below them looked like a white sea-gull lying upon the water. A great cloud stood behind them, just like a big mountain, and across it Elisa saw the shadow of herself and the eleven swans, quite gigantic in size, as they sailed through the air. It was quite a picture, prettier than any she had ever seen; but as the sun rose higher, and the cloud was left further and further behind, the floating shadow-picture gradually vanished.
Like a whizzing arrow they shot through the air the whole day, although their progress was somewhat slower than usual, as they now had their sister to carry. Dark clouds began gathering toward the evening, and Elisa anxiously saw the sun sinking, and yet there was no sign of the lonely rock in the ocean. It appeared to her as if the swans were making greater efforts with their wings. Alas! she was the cause of their not being able to get on fast enough; when the sun had gone down they would become human beings and fall into the sea and be drowned. She then prayed to our Lord from the bottom of her heart, but no rock could as yet be seen. The black cloud came nearer ; the violent gusts of wind foretold a storm ; the clouds gathered in one great, threatening wave, which moved forward like a solid mass of lead, while one flash of lightning followed upon another.
The sun was now close to the edge of the ocean. Elisa's heart trembled; the swans then darted downward so suddenly that she thought she must fall out of the net, but soon they sailed on again through the air. The sun was half-way under the horizon, and just then she caught sight of the little rock below them; it did not appear larger than the head of a seal above water. The sun was sinking rapidly; now it seemed no larger than a star, and then her foot touched the firm ground; the sun went out like the last spark in a piece of burning paper. She saw her brothers standing round her, arm in arm, but there was only just room enough for them all. The sea dashed against the rock and descended upon them like a heavy shower of rain; the heavens were continually lighted up with flashes of fire, and peal after peal of thunder followed each other; but sister and brothers held each other by the hands and sang a psalm, from which they received both comfort and courage.
At daybreak the air was pure and quite still. As soon as the sun rose the swans flew away with Elisa from the rock. The sea was still high, and, to them, who were so high up in the air, the white foam on the dark green waves appeared like millions of swans swimming on the waters.
When the sun had risen higher Elisa saw before her, half floating in the air, an alpine country with glittering masses of ice on the mountains, in the midst of which lay a palace almost a mile long, with one colonnade daringly piled above another, while below were forests of waving palms and luxurious flowers as large as mill-wheels. She asked if this was the country whither she was going, but the swans shook their heads, for what she saw was nothing but the magnificent and ever-changing aerial castle of Fata Morgana; thither they dared not bring any human being. Elisa was still gazing at it when the mountains, forests, and palace all tumbled together, and in their place stood twenty stately churches, all alike, with high steeples and pointed windows. She thought she heard the sound of an organ, but it was the sea she heard. Now she was quite close to the churches, when they changed into a whole fleet of ships that were sailing below her. She looked down and found it was only clouds of sea-mist .png)
ELSA SAW A PALACE ALMOST A MILE LONG, WITH ONE COLONNADE DARINGLY PILED ABOVE ANOTHER.
"Now we shall see what you will dream about here to-night," said the youngest brother, and showed her to her bedchamber.
"Heaven grant I may dream how I shall be able to save you!" she said, and this thought took entire possession of her mind.
She prayed so fervently to God for help that even in her sleep she went on praying. She thought she was flying high up in the air to Fata Morgana's palace; the fairy herself came to meet her; she was so beautiful and gorgeously attired, and yet she was very much like the old woman who had given her the berries in the forest, and told her about the swans with the golden crowns.
"Your brothers can be saved," she said; "but have you the courage and perseverance? Water, as you know, is softer than your delicate hands, but still it can change the shape of the hardest stones; but it does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel; it has no heart and does not suffer from the anxiety and anguish that you will have to endure. Do you see the nettle which I hold in my hand? Of this kind a great many grow round about the cave in which you sleep, but, mark you, only those which grow there and on the graves of the churchyards can be used; these you must gather, although they will blister your hands; tread the nettles with your feet and they will turn into flax, and this you must twist and then knit eleven shirts of mail with long sleeves. Throw these over the eleven swans, and the spell will be broken. But you must remember particularly that from the moment you begin your task till it is finished, even though it may take you years, you must not speak; the first word you speak will go like a deadly dagger to your brothers' hearts and kill them; on your silence depend their lives. Remember all this!"
And then she touched Elisa's hand with the nettle, which was like burning fire, and caused her to wake. It was broad daylight, and close to where she had slept lay a nettle like the one she had seen in her dream. She then fell on her knees, thanked the Lord, and went out of the cave to begin her task.
With her delicate hands she took hold of the nasty nettles, which were like fire and blistered her hands and arms; yet she was quite willing to suffer it all, it only she were able to save her dear brothers. She trod every nettle with her bare feet and twisted the green flax from it.
When the sun had gone down her brothers came back; they grew frightened when they found her so silent, and thought it was some new witchery of the wicked stepmother's; but when they saw her hands they understood what she was doing for their sake. The youngest brother wept, and where his tears fell on her hands the pain ceased and the burning blisters vanished.
She worked all night, for she could not rest till she had set free her dear brothers. During the whole of the following day, while the swans were away, she sat all alone, and the time had never flown so quickly. One shirt was already finished, and now she had begun another.
Just then a hunting-horn was heard among the mountains and startled Elisa. The sound came nearer; she heard the barking of dogs. She took refuge in the cave in great fright, tied the nettles she had gathered and hackled into a bundle, and sat down on it.
At that moment a big dog jumped out from the thicket, and immediately afterward he was followed by another, and still another; they barked loudly, ran back, and then returned again. In a few minutes all the huntsmen were there outside the cave, and the handsomest among them was the king of the country. He went up to Elisa, for he had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life.
"How did you come here, you lovely child?" he said. Elisa shook her head; she dared not speak, for her brothers' deliverance and lives depended upon it. She hid her hands under her apron, so that the king should not see what she had to suffer.
"Come with me," he said; "you must not remain here. If you are as good as you are beautiful I will dress you in silks and velvet, and place the golden crown upon your head and you shall live in my grandest palace!" And he lifted her on to his horse. She wept and wrung her hands, but the king said: "I think only of your happiness. One day you will thank me for it all." And so he dashed off across the mountains, holding her before him on his horse, and the huntsmen came rushing on behind.
Toward sunset the magnificent royal city with its churches and cupolas lay before them. The king led her into the palace, where large fountains were playing in the lofty marble halls, and where walls and ceilings were resplendent with paintings, but she had no mind for such things. She wept and mourned and passively allowed the women to dress her in regal robes, plait pearls in her hair, and put delicate gloves on her blistered fingers.
As she stood there in all her splendor, she was so dazzlingly beautiful that all the court bowed still lower before her. And the king chose her for his bride, although the archbishop shook his head and whispered that the pretty maiden from the forest was, in all probability, a witch who had dazzled their eyes and bewitched the king's heart.
But the king would not listen to this; he ordered the music to strike up, the most costly dishes to be served, and the loveliest girls to dance around her. She was conducted through fragrant gardens to most magnificent halls, but not a smile could be seen on her lips or in her .png)
THERE, ON ONE OF THE LARGEST TOMBSTONES, ELISA SAW SOME UGLY WITCHES BUSY TAKING OFF THEIR RAGS.
The king now opened the door to a small chamber close to the one in which she was to sleep; the floor was decked with costly green carpets, but the room was otherwise exactly like the cave in which she had been living; on the floor lay the bundle of flax which she had spun out of the nettles, and from the ceiling hung the shirt of mail which she had finished, — all of which one of the huntsmen had brought with him as curiosities.
"Here you can imagine yourself back in your late home," said the king. "Here is the work you were busy with there; and now in the midst of all the splendor around you it will amuse you to recall that time to your mind."
When Elisa saw that which was so dear to her heart, a smile played round her mouth, and the blood came back into her cheeks; she thought of her brothers' deliverance, and kissed the king's hand; he pressed her to his heart and ordered all the church bells to be rung to announce their wedding festivities. The beautiful dumb maiden from the forest was to be the queen of the land.
The archbishop then whispered wicked words into the king's ears, but they did not penetrate to his heart; the wedding was to take place, and the archbishop himself had to place the crown on her head. He maliciously pressed the narrow ring so tightly down upon her forehead that it hurt her, but a heavier ring lay around her heart, and that was the grief for her brothers, so that she did not feel the bodily pain. Her mouth was sealed, — one single word would cost her brothers their lives; but her eyes told of the deep love she bore for the kind, handsome king, who did everything to make her happy. She loved him with her whole heart and became more and more fond of him every day. Oh, if she only could have dared to confide in him, to tell him of her sufferings! But she must remain dumb, and as dumb she must complete her task. She therefore stole away from his side at night, went into the little private room which was fitted up like the cave, and knitted one shirt of mail after another; but when she began the seventh she had no flax.
She knew that the nettles which she had to use grew in the churchyard, but she herself must gather them; how should she be able to get there?
"Oh, what is the pain in my fingers compared to the anguish which my heart suffers?" she thought; "I must venture upon it. The Lord will not forsake me." With a heart heavy with fear and anxiety, as if she were bent upon some evil deed, she stole down into the garden in the clear moonlight night, walked through the long avenues of trees and along the lonely streets to the churchyard. There, on one of the largest tombstones, she saw some ugly witches sitting in a ring and busy taking off their rags, as if they were going to bathe, whereupon they began digging up the freshly made graves with their long, bony fingers, pulling out the corpses and eating their flesh. Elisa had to pass close by them, and they glared at her with their evil eyes, but she said her prayers, gathered the stinging nettles, and carried them home to the palace.
Only one human being had seen her, and that was the archbishop; he had been up while the others slept. Now he was convinced that there was something wrong with the queen: she was a witch, and that explained how she had been able to bewitch the king and the whole of the people.
He told the king in the confessional what he had seen and what he feared, but as the terrible words came from his lips the carved images of saints shook their heads as if they wanted to say: "It is not true; Elisa is innocent." The archbishop, however, had quite a different explanation: he said that they bore witness against her, and that they shook their heads at her sins. A couple of bitter tears rolled down the king's cheeks, and he went home with doubt in his heart. That night he pretended to sleep, but no peaceful slumber closed his eyes; he saw how Elisa got up from her bed, and every night afterward she did the same. Every time he followed quietly after her, and saw her disappear in her private room.
Day by day his brow became darker. Elisa noticed this, but she could not understand the reason. It made her anxious, however, and increased the suffering she endured on her brothers' account. Her hot tears flowed down upon the royal velvet and purple, and lay there like sparkling diamonds, and all who saw the splendor that surrounded her wished to be a queen. She would soon be finished with her work: only one shirt was wanting; but she had no more flax, and not a single nettle. Once more, and only this once, would she have to go to the churchyard and gather a few handfuls of nettles. She thought with dread of the lonely walk and the horrible witches, but her will was as firm as was her trust in the Lord.
Elisa went, but was followed by the king and the archbishop. They saw her disappear through the iron gate of the churchyard, and when they came up to it they saw the witches sitting on the tombstone, just as Elisa had seen them. The king turned away at the thought that she, whose head had rested on his breast that very evening, might be amongst them. "The people must judge her," he said. And the people gave judgment that "she was to be burned by the devouring fire."
From the magnificent halls of the royal palace she was conducted to a dark, damp dungeon, into which the wind whistled through the grated windows; instead of velvet and silks they gave her the bundle of nettles she had gathered to rest her head upon. The hard, stinging shirts of mail which she had knitted were to serve her as mattress and coverlet, but they could not have given her anything she could have prized more. She began her work again and prayed to God, while outside the boys in the street were singing mocking ditties about her. Not a soul came near her to comfort her with a kind word.
Toward evening she heard the rustling of a swan's wings near the window grating; it was the youngest of her brothers who had discovered his sister. She sobbed loudly for joy, although she knew that the coming night would probably be her last, but now her work was almost completed, and her brothers were near her.
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ELEVEN WILD SWANS CAME FLYING AND SETTLED DOWN AROUND HER ON THE CART, FLAPPING THEIR LARGE WINGS.
The archbishop came to remain with her during her last hour—this he had promised the king; but she shook her head—yes!—and begged him by looks and signs to go away. She must finish her work that night, otherwise everything would be in vain—everything—her sufferings, her tears, and her sleepless nights. The archbishop left her with angry words, but poor Elisa knew that she was innocent, and went on with her work.
The little mice ran about on the floor and dragged the nettles to her feet, wanting to be of some help to her, and a thrush settled itself near the window grating and sang the whole night as merrily as it could, so that she should not lose courage.
The day was only just breaking; it was about an hour before sunrise when the eleven brothers appeared at the gate of the palace and asked to be conducted to the king, but they were told it could not be done. It was still night, the king was asleep, and they dared not wake him. The brothers begged and prayed and threatened; the guard appeared, and even the king came out and asked what was the matter. But just at that moment the sun rose and there were no princes to be seen, but over the palace eleven wild swans were seen flying away.
All the inhabitants were streaming out through the gate of the town to see the witch being burned. A miserable horse drew the carton which Elisa sat; she had been given a gown of coarse sackcloth to wear, her beautiful long hair hung loosely about her lovely head; her cheeks were as pale as death, her lips moved slowly, while her fingers were twisting the green flax: even on her way to death she would not give up the work she had begun. The ten shirts of mail lay at her feet, and she was now busy knitting the eleventh, while the mob was scoffing at her.
"Look at the witch, how she is mumbling to herself! She has n't got a hymn-book in her hand, — no! There she sits with some of her wicked witchery. Let us tear it into a thousand pieces!"
And all the people rushed at her and wanted to tear the shirts to pieces, when the eleven wild swans came flying and settled down around her on the cart, flapping their large wings. At this the crowd drew back in terror.
"It's a sign from heaven! She must be innocent!" many whispered; but they did not venture to say it aloud.
The executioner now took her by the hand, when suddenly she threw the eleven shirts over the swans, and there stood eleven handsome princes; but the youngest had a swan's wing instead of one of his arms, because one of the sleeves, which she had not been able to finish, was missing in his shirt.
"Now I may speak!" she said. "I am innocent!"
And the people, who had seen what had taken place, bowed before her as before a saint; but she sank insensible into her brothers' arms, overcome by all the excitement, anxiety, and grief she had gone through.
"Yes, she is innocent!" said the eldest brother; and now he related everything that had happened, and while he spoke a perfume as from millions of roses filled the air, for every log in the pile had taken root and put forth branches till they formed a fragrant hedge, broad and high, with red roses, above which bloomed a white, bright flower that shone like a star. This the king plucked and placed in Elisa's bosom when she awoke with peace and happiness in her heart.
And all the church bells began ringing of themselves, and the birds came flying into the town in great flocks. Such a wedding procession as that which returned to the palace no king had ever seen.