A king got lost in the woods. A witch came and told him that
she would help him get out if he married her daughter. The king said yes and
followed the witch home. The daughter was beautiful, but the king shuttered
everything he looked at her. The king didn’t trust his new wife to be kind to
his seven children from his previous marriage. So, he hid them in a castle
hidden deep in the woods. The queen was angry at home much time the king spent
away from her, so she bribed some servants to tell her where the king went.
When she found out about the king’s children she went to the castle to see
them. She had used some of her mother’s magic to turn the six sons into swans.
She didn’t learn about the king’s daughter and left without changing her. The
next day the king came around and asked where his sons were. The king didn’t
think that it was his wife who did such a thing and wanted to take his daughter
with him. She refused and staid at the castle to look for her brothers. She
found her brothers in the forest, and they were only able to stay in human for
15 minutes. She wanted to help them become human again, but they told her it
would be too hard. She couldn’t talk or laugh and she must make six shirts out
of aster-flowers. The daughter set her mind on helping her brothers. The
daughter wouldn’t speak when hunters found her sleeping in a tree. When she
wouldn’t give an answer, they took her to another king. The king couldn’t get
her to talk either but fell in love with her beauty. He took her home with him
and made him his queen. The king’s mother didn’t like his new wife and tried to
get rid of her. The daughter gave birth to a son and the king’s mother tried to
make her son think that his wife ate their baby. The daughter didn’t care and
went on sewing the shirts for her brothers. The daughter gave birth to two more
sons and the queen did the exact same thing as before. After the third time the
King couldn’t ignore the evidence and ordered her to be put to death. As she
was about to be put to death she finished the shirts and gave them to her
brothers. After that she was able to speak and told her husband about his
mother’s treachery. They lived happily ever after.
Bibliography:
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).
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