Prevod

Once a king was hunting in a great forest, and he pursued a wild animal so eagerly that none of his men could keep up with him. When evening came, he stopped and looked about him, only to find that he had lost his way. He searched for a path out, but could find none. Then he saw an old woman coming towards him, her head trembling. She was a witch.

"Good woman," he said to her, "can you show me the way through the forest?" "Oh yes, my lord king," she replied, "I certainly can, but there is one condition. Unless you fulfil it, you will never leave this forest, but must starve to death here."

"What is this condition?" asked the king. "I have a daughter," said the old woman, "as beautiful as any you could find in the world, and well worthy of becoming 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 house, where her daughter sat by the fire. She greeted the king as though she had been expecting him, and he could see that she was very beautiful. Yet he did not like her, and could not look at her without a secret shudder. After he had lifted the maiden onto his horse beside him, the old woman showed him the way, and the king returned to his royal castle, where the wedding was celebrated.

The king had been married before, and by his first wife he had seven children, six boys and a girl, whom he loved more than anything in the world. Fearing that their stepmother might treat them badly, or even do them harm, he took them to a lonely castle in the heart of a forest. It was so well hidden, and the way to it so hard to find, that he could not have found it himself if a wise woman had not given him a ball of thread with a marvellous power: whenever he threw it down before him, it unwound of its own accord and showed him the way.

But the king went out to see his dear children so often that the queen began to notice his absences. She grew curious and wanted to know what he was doing all alone out in the forest. She gave his servants a great deal of money, and they betrayed his secret to her, telling her also of the ball of thread that alone could show the way. Now she could not rest until she had discovered where the king kept the ball. Then she made little shirts of white silk, and, having learned witchcraft from her mother, sewed a spell into them. One day, when the king had ridden out hunting, she took the shirts and went into the forest, and the ball of thread showed her the way. The children saw someone coming from afar and thought it was their dear father, so they ran joyfully out to meet him. Then she threw a shirt over each of them, and as soon as it touched their bodies, they turned into swans and flew away over the forest. The queen went home well pleased, believing she was rid of her stepchildren. But the girl had not run out with her brothers, and the queen knew nothing of her. The next day the king came to visit his children, but found no one except the girl.

"Where are your brothers?" asked the king. "Oh, dear Father," she answered, "they have gone away and left me all alone." She told him how she had watched from her little window as her brothers flew away over the forest as swans, and showed him the feathers they had dropped in the courtyard, which she had gathered up. The king grieved, but it did not occur to him that the queen had done this wicked deed. Fearing that the girl might also be stolen 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 stay here no longer. I will go and look for my brothers." When night came, she slipped away and went straight into the forest. She walked all night and all the following day without stopping, until she was too tired to go any farther. Then she saw a hunting hut, climbed up into it, and found a room with six little beds. She did not dare lie down in any of them, but crept beneath one, lay down on the hard floor, and meant to spend the night there. Just before sunset, however, she heard a rustling and saw six swans fly in through the window. They settled on the floor and blew on one another until all their feathers came off, and their swan skins slipped away like shirts. The girl looked at them and recognized her brothers, and joyfully crept out from under the bed. The brothers were no less delighted to see their little sister, but their joy was short-lived.

"You cannot stay here," they told her. "This is a den of robbers. If they come home and find you, they will murder you."

"Can you not protect me?" asked their little sister. "No," they answered, "for we can take off our swan skins for only a quarter of an hour each evening. During that time we have our human forms, but afterwards we are turned into swans again." Their little sister wept and said, "Can you not be freed from the spell?"

"Alas, no," they answered. "The conditions are too hard. For six years you must neither speak nor laugh, and in that time you must sew six little shirts for us out of starflowers. If a single word passes your lips, all your work will be lost." As soon as the brothers had said this, the quarter of an hour was over, and they flew out through the window as swans once more.

But the girl firmly resolved to free her brothers, even if it cost her her life. She left the hunting hut, went deep into the forest, climbed a tree, and spent the night there. The next morning she went out, gathered starflowers, and began to sew. She could speak to no one, and had no wish to laugh; she simply sat there, intent upon her work. When she had been there a long time, it happened that the king of that country was hunting in the forest, and his huntsmen came to the tree in which she sat. They called to her, saying, "Who are you?" But she gave no answer. "Come down to us," they said. "We will do you no harm." She merely shook her head. When they continued to press her with questions, she threw down her gold necklace, thinking this would satisfy them. But they would not leave her alone, so she threw down her belt, and when that did not help either, her garters, and little by little everything she was wearing that she could spare, until she had nothing left but her shift. Yet the huntsmen would not be put off. They climbed the tree, lifted the girl down, and brought her before the king.

The king asked, "Who are you? What are you doing up in that tree?" But she did not answer. He questioned her in every language he knew, but she remained as mute as a fish. Yet she was so beautiful that the king's heart was touched, and he came to love her dearly. He wrapped his cloak around her, took her onto his horse in front of him, and brought her to his castle. There he had her dressed in rich clothes, and her beauty shone as brightly as the day, but not a word could be drawn from her. He seated her beside him at table, and her modest manner and gentle bearing pleased him so much that he said, "She is the one I wish to marry, and no other in the world." A few days later, he married her.

But the king had a wicked mother who was displeased with this marriage and spoke ill of the young queen. "Who knows where this wench comes from," she said, "who cannot even speak? She is not worthy of a king." A year later, when the queen gave birth to her first child, the old woman took it away from her and smeared her mouth with blood while she slept. Then she went to the king and accused the queen of being a cannibal. The king would not believe it, and would allow no one to harm her. All the while, she sat sewing the shirts and paid attention to nothing else. The next time she gave birth to another handsome boy, her deceitful mother-in-law played the same trick, but the king could not bring himself to believe her accusations. He said, "She is too good and devout to do such a thing. If she were not mute and could defend herself, her innocence would come to light." But when the old woman stole the newborn child for the third time and accused the queen, who spoke not a word in her own defence, the king had no choice: he had to hand her over to the court, which condemned her to be burned to death.

When the day came for the sentence to be carried out, the last day of the six years during which she must neither speak nor laugh had also come to an end, and she had freed her dear brothers from the power of the spell. The six shirts were finished, except that the last one still lacked its left sleeve. As she was led to the stake, she laid the shirts over her arm. When she stood upon the pyre and the fire was about to be lit, she looked around and saw six swans flying through the air. Then she knew that her deliverance was near, and her heart stirred with joy.

The swans swept towards her with a rush of wings and came down low enough for her to throw the shirts over them. As soon as the shirts touched them, their swan skins fell away, and her brothers stood before her in the flesh, hale and handsome. Only the youngest lacked his left arm, and in its place he had a swan's wing on his back. They embraced and kissed one another, and the queen went to the king, who was utterly astonished, and began to speak. "Dearest husband," she said, "now I may speak and tell you that I am innocent and have been falsely accused." She told him of the old woman's deceit, and how she had taken away their three children and hidden them. They were brought back, to the king's great joy, and the wicked mother-in-law was bound to the stake as punishment and burned to ashes. But the king and queen, together with her six brothers, lived for many years in happiness and peace.