Six Swans
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A KING1 was once hunting2 in a great wood,3 and he hunted the game so eagerly that none of his courtiers4 could follow him. When evening came on he stood still and looked round him, and he saw that he had quite lost himself. He sought a way out, but could find none. Then he saw an old woman with a shaking head coming towards him; but she was a witch.5 "Good woman,"' he said to her, "can you not show me the way out of the wood?" "Oh, certainly, Sir King," she replied, "I can quite well do that, but on one condition,6 which if you do not fulfil you will never get out of the wood, and will die of hunger." "What is the condition?"' asked the King. "I have a daughter,"7 said the old woman, "who is so beautiful that she has not her equal in the world,8 and is well fitted to be your wife; if you will make her lady-queen9 I will show you the way out of the wood." The King in his anguish of mind consented, and the old woman led him to her little house where her daughter was sitting by the fire. She received the King as if she were expecting him,10 and he saw that she was certainly very beautiful; but she did not please him, and he could not look at her without a secret feeling of horror.11 As soon as he had lifted the maiden on to his horse the old woman showed him the way, and the King reached his palace, where the wedding was celebrated. The King had already been married once, and had by his first wife seven children, six boys and one girl,12 whom he loved more than anything in the world.13 And now, because he was afraid that their stepmother14 might not treat them well and might do them harm, he put them in a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a wood.15 It lay so hidden, and the way to it was so hard to find, that he himself could not have found it out had not a wise-woman16 given him a reel of thread17 which possessed a marvellous property: when he threw it before him it unwound itself and showed him the way. But the King went so often to his dear children that the Queen was offended at his absence. She grew curious, and wanted to know what he had to do quite alone in the wood. She gave his servants a great deal of money, and they betrayed the secret to her,18 and also told her of the reel which alone could point out the way. She had no rest now till she had found out where the King guarded the reel, and then she made some little white shirts,19 and, as she had learnt from her witch-mother, sewed an enchantment in each of them.20 And when the King had ridden off she took the little shirts and went into the wood, and the reel showed her the way. The children, who saw someone coming in the distance, thought it was their dear father coming to them, and sprang to meet him very joyfully. Then she threw over each one a little shirt, which when it had touched their bodies changed them into swans,21 and they flew away over the forest. The Queen went home quite satisfied, and thought she had got rid of her step-children; but the girl had not run to meet her with her brothers, and she knew nothing of her. The next day the King came to visit his children, but he found no one but the girl. "Where are your brothers?"' asked the King. "Alas! dear father," she answered, "they have gone away and left me all alone."22 And she told him that looking out of her little window she had seen her brothers flying over the wood in the shape of swans,23 and she showed him the feathers which they had let fall in the yard, and which she had collected. The King mourned, but he did not think that the Queen had done the wicked deed, and as he was afraid the maiden would also be taken from him, he wanted to take her with him. But she was afraid of the stepmother, and begged the King to let her stay just one night more in the castle in the wood. The poor maiden thought, "My home is no longer here; I will go and seek my brothers."24 And when night came she fled away into the forest. She ran all through the night and the next day, till she could go no farther for weariness. Then she saw a little hut,25 went in, and found a room with six little beds.26 She was afraid to lie down on one, so she crept under one of them, lay on the hard floor, and was going to spend the night there. But when the sun had set she heard a noise, and saw six swans flying in at the window. They stood on the floor and blew at one another, and blew all their feathers off, and their swan-skin came off like a shirt. Then the maiden recognised her brothers, and overjoyed she crept out from under the bed. Her brothers were not less delighted than she to see their little sister again, but their joy did not last long. "You cannot stay here," they said to her. "This is a den of robbers;27 if they were to come here and find you they would kill you." "Could you not protect me?" asked the little sister. "No," they answered, "for we can only lay aside our swan skins for a quarter of an hour every evening.28 For this time we regain our human forms, but then we are changed into swans again." Then the little sister cried and said, "Can you not be freed?" "Oh, no," they said, "the conditions are too hard. You must not speak or laugh for six years,29 and must make in that time six shirts for us out of star-flowers.30 If a single word comes out of your mouth, all your labour is vain." And when the brothers had said this the quarter of an hour came to an end, and they flew away out of the window as swans. But the maiden had determined to free her brothers even if it should cost her her life.31 She left the hut, went into the forest, climbed a tree, and spent the night there.32 The next morning she went out, collected star-flowers,33 and began to sew.34 She could speak to no one, and she had no wish to laugh, so she sat there, looking only at her work. When she had lived there some time, it happened that the King of the country was hunting in the forest,35 and his hunters came to the tree on which the maiden sat. They called to her and said "Who are you?" But she gave no answer. "Come down to us," they said, "we will do you no harm." But she shook her head silently. As they pressed her further with questions, she threw them the golden chain from her neck.36 But they did not leave off, and she threw them her girdle,37 and when this was no use, her garters,38 and then her dress.39 The huntsmen would not leave her alone, but climbed the tree, lifted the maiden down, and led her to the King. The King asked, "Who are you? What are you doing up that tree?" But she answered nothing. He asked her in all the languages he knew,40 but she remained as dumb41 as a fish. Because she was so beautiful, however, the King's heart was touched, and he was seized with a great love for her. He wrapped her up in his cloak, placed her before him on his horse. and brought her to his castle. There he had her dressed in rich clothes, and her beauty shone out as bright as day, but not a word could be drawn from her. He set her at table by his side, and her modest ways and behaviour pleased him so much that he said, "I will marry this maiden and none other in the world," and after some days he married her.42 But the King had a wicked mother who was displeased with the marriage, and said wicked things of the young Queen. "Who knows who this girl is?" she said; "she cannot speak, and is not worthy of a king."43 After a year, when the Queen had her first child,44 the old mother took it away from her.45 Then she went to the King and said that the Queen had killed it.46 The King would not believe it, and would not allow any harm to be done her. But she sat quietly sewing at the shirts and troubling herself about nothing. The next time she had a child the wicked mother did the same thing, but the King could not make up his mind to believe her. He said, "She is too sweet and good to do such a thing as that. If she were not dumb and could defend herself, her innocence would be proved."47 But when the third child48 was taken away, and the Queen was again accused, and could not utter a word in her own defence, the King was obliged to give her over to the law, which decreed that she must be burnt to death.49 When the day came on which the sentence was to be executed, it was the last day of the six years50 in which she must not speak or laugh, and now she had freed her dear brothers from the power of the enchantment. The six shirts were done; there was only the left sleeve wanting to the last.51 #p#副标题#e# When she was led to the stake, she laid the shirts on her arm, and as she stood on the pile and the fire was about to be lighted, she looked around her and saw six swans flying through the air. Then she knew that her release was at hand and her heart danced for joy. The swans fluttered round her, and hovered low so that she could throw the shirts over them. When they had touched them the swan-skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her living, well and beautiful. Only the youngest had a swan's wing instead of his left arm.52 They embraced and kissed each other, and the Queen went to the King, who was standing by in great astonishment, and began to speak to him, saying, "Dearest husband, now I can speak and tell you openly that I am innocent and have been falsely accused." She told him of the old woman's deceit, and how she had taken the three children away and hidden them. Then they were fetched, to the great joy of the King, and the wicked mother came to no good end.53 But the King and the Queen with their six brothers lived many years in happiness and peace.54 1. A king: The father is not a king in all versions of the tale. While he is usually at least a nobleman, in The Seven Ravens he is a peasant.
2. Hunting: In times past, hunting was a popular activity among the nobility, used for sport and necessity. The game was often used for food, but for trophies as well.
3. Great wood: The forest is a recurrent image in German fairy tales, in part because over a quarter of the country is comprised of forest land. In the Grimms' tales, the forest is a supernatural world, a place where anything can happen and often does. According to Jungian psychology, the forest is a representation of the feminine principle and is identified with the unconscious. The foliage blocks the sun's rays, the sun being associated with the male principle. The forest symbolizes the dangerous side of the unconscious, its ability to destroy reason (Cirlot 1962) and (Matthews 1986).
4. His courtiers: A courtier is "an attendant at the court of a sovereign" (WordNet).
5. A witch: Belief in witches exists in nearly every culture worldwide (Leach 1949). In Jungian psychology, the witch is a personification of evil which eventually consumes itself. The witch symbolizes the destructive power of the unconscious (Luthi 1976).
6. But on one condition: Magical helpers rarely help the protagonists in fairy tales without a good reason or bargain. In fairy tales, either the main character is virtuous and thus earns help or he must make a bargain, usually one he would not make except in desperate circumstances.
7. I have a daughter: Fairy tales are filled with mothers--both witches and regular mothers--trying to marry off their daughters in favorable circumstances. They include the mother in Cinderella and the troll-hag in East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
8. So beautiful that she has not her equal in the world: Hyperbole is frequently used to describe beauty in fairy tales. Each beautiful woman has "no equal" or is "the most beautiful" or similar. Beauty often represents goodness, worthiness, privilege, and wealth in fairy tales. Princesses are especially expected to be beautiful. Physical beauty is often considered to represent inner beauty in folklore, except for when it is a magical disguise.
9. Make her lady-queen: Fairy tale characters often aspire to improve their status by marrying a sovereign or future sovereign.
10. She were expecting him: This short line lets us know the king was tricked into this agreement. He has been the victim of foul play.
11. He could not look at her without a secret feeling of horror: The king is an honorable man and loving father. He senses the evil in his new bride, but will not dishonor an agreement he has made. Promises, while important today, were more powerful in the past when honor was a great motivator. Also, before the time of literacy among the masses and written contracts, verbal promises were given greater weight. A promise was a contract and actionable by law if broken. Folklore emphasizes the importance of a promise by meting punishment upon those who do not keep their promises. One has the sense that the king is in a no-win situation. He will suffer if he breaks his promise and he will suffer if he doesn't as the tale will show.
12. Seven children, six boys and one girl: The daughter is usually the youngest child in the tale. Some variants rely heavily on the daughter's placement as youngest. When she is born, the king worries about her inheritance and thus plans for his sons to be killed to insure she is taken care of.
13. He loved more than anything in the world: Here we have a tale in which the father actively works to protect his children from the evil machinations of their stepmother. Most fairy tale children are not so fortunate, such as Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel. A parent's self-interest is often the cause of a child's predicament, such as the daughter and her father in Rumpelstiltskin.
14. Stepmother: The image of the evil stepmother occurs frequently in fairy tales. She is associated with jealousy and cruelty (Olderr 1986). "In masculine psychology, the stepmother is a symbol of the unconscious in a destructive role" (von Franz 1970). The stepmother figure is actually two sided, in that while she has destructive intentions, her actions often lead the protagonist into situations that identify and strengthen his or her best qualities.
15. Put them in a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a wood: Mother Gothel is another parent who hides her child in the forest in Rapunzel.
16. Wise-woman: Note that the wise-woman, although she apparently uses magic, is not labeled a witch since she is both helpful and good. Witchcraft has an evil connotation in fairy tales while magic itself can be a force of good or evil depending on the user.
17. A reel of thread: In Greek mythology, Theseus receives a ball of thread from Ariadne to use to enter the Minotaur's labyrinth, defeat it, and still find his way out to safety (Lindemans, Pantheon.org).
18. A great deal of money, and they betrayed the secret to her: Money often brings about corruption. Bribery, especially with money, is found often in literature, even some fairy tales. One of the most famous betrayals in history is Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Christ for 30 pieces of silver in the New Testament.
19. Little white shirts: The color of the shirts foreshadows the type of birds the brothers will become--white swans.
20. Sewed an enchantment in each of them: Enchantments are often cast with the use of physical charms or hexes which can be sewn into clothing. In the tale Little Brother and Little Sister, the brother is also changed into a deer by his evil stepmother.
21. Changed them into swans: Animal transformation and shapeshifting is a common motif in folklore and found in almost every culture around the world, often attributed to witches and other magical beings, but sometimes practiced by humans. The change can either be voluntary or imposed through enchantment, as it is here. Shapeshifting is often instigated by the rising or setting of the sun or moon. The most common types of shapeshifting for humans usually involves changing into a bear or wolf, especially for men. In tales of the AT 451: The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers classification, the brothers are usually turned into a type of bird, including ravens, ducks, and swans.
22. They have gone away and left me all alone: In some variants of the tale, the sister does not learn she has brothers until she is older. She believes she is an only child, not knowing that her father mistakenly cursed his sons shortly after her birth, such as in The Seven Ravens. In The Twelve Brothers, the sister is the unwitting agent of the brothers' transformations.
23. Swans: Swans have a diverse history in folklore, including Greek mythology where Zeus assumes the form of a swan in Leda and the Swan. The bird is also an erotic symbol due to its association with Aphrodite/Venus. Swan maiden tales are found around the world, including the story of Swan Lake, the famous ballet. "Since the swan moves in the three elements earth, water, and air, it has traditionally been associated with shape-shifting, especially with the form of a beautiful young woman. Like storks, swans were sometimes thought to assume human form when they migrated to other lands" (Jones 1995, 408). Swans have also come to symbolize fidelity and true love through the general belief that they mate for life. "Geese, swans, doves, and albatrosses are generally believed to remain totally faithful to one partner death do them part. In fact, swans have become the symbol of life-long romance in popular lore, because when they swim off together to mate, their heads touch and their necks form a heart shape" (WWF.org: My Feathered Valentine). A bird can symbolize air, wind, time, immortality, the female principle, aspiration, prophecy, love, and freedom (Olderr 1986).
24. I will go and seek my brothers: Across all variants, when the sister learns of her brothers' enchantment, whatever its cause, she is determined to rescue them and make her family whole again. The tale is one about family devotion and sacrifice. These siblings are not jealous of each other and have no contention amongst themselves. The sister is more concerned about her family's welfare than her own inheritance. Jack Zipes theorizes that the tale was important to the Grimms for its message about family fidelity through adversity and separation (Zipes 1988, 40).
25. A little hut: Many fairy tales include huts or houses hidden in a forest for various reasons, such as in Hansel and Gretel, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The hut may be a place of danger or a safety zone for the heroine. Graham Andersen finds several strong relationships between Six Swans and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in his study of fairy tale origins in the ancient world (Anderson 2000).
26. A room with six little beds: While the room has six beds, it is not intended for the six brothers who will be in human form for only 15 minutes, barely the length of a catnap.
27. This is a den of robbers: Other fairy tales include dens of robbers, such as The Robber Bridegroom and The Bremen Town Musicians.
28. Lay aside our swan skins for a quarter of an hour every evening: Enchanted humans often have the opportunity to return to human form, usually in the evening or nighttime, in fairy tales. The time is not usually limited to time measured on a clock, however, but by the setting and rising of the sun or moon. An example of another tale with a shapeshifting character is East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
29. You must not speak or laugh for six years: The sister usually has to remain silent for as many years as she has enchanted brothers. The silence is also similar to that of the swans themselves. Swans are popularly believed to be silent creatures. Swan lore tells that swans do not sing until their death. This is not true, but is a well-established belief in folklore (Jones 1995, 408). Feminist critics interpret this stipulation as a silencing of women, putting them in their place--remaining seen and not heard--and rewarding them for being silent, as part of the sociocultural requirements during the Grimms' time. Marina Warner finds irony in the tale when told by female storytellers. They "are flouting, in the act of speaking and teaching, the strictures against female authority they impart: women narrators, extolling the magic of silence of the heroic sister in 'The Twelve Brothers,' are speaking themselves, breaking the silence, telling the story" (Warner 1994, 395). Another interpretation can include the extreme torture of the situation. For six years the sister must not communicate with anyone to share her experience or lighten her burden. This must be particularly hard in the tales where she is close to her brothers and accustomed to their companionship. Later she cannot explain the injustices behind the taking away of her children even when she is about to be burned at the stake. She is completely isolated by silence even when she is surrounded by people.
30. Must make in that time six shirts for us out of star-flowers: Note that the spell must be broken with a method similar to how it was cast. White shirts caused the enchantment, so the sister must make new shirts for her brothers to counteract the spell.
31. Even if it should cost her her life: The sister endures physical and emotional abuse during her trial to release her brothers. In The Seven Ravens, she ends up cutting off her own little finger to open a door to reach her brothers.
32. Climbed a tree, and spent the night there: The sister chooses to sleep in a tree which may parallel the resting place of her brothers as birds, although swan's nests are generally built on elevated ground near bodies of water, but a storyteller may not know this.
33. Star-flowers: Some translations call the plant starwort. Hans Christian Andersen requires nettles or thistles for his heroine which cause her pain as she makes the shirts.
34. To sew: Note that the sister must use a domestic art as part of her effort to save her brothers. While she is spunkier and more aggressive than many of her fairy tale counterparts, she still must excel at domestic arts and feminine virtues to complete her mission.
35. King of the country was hunting in the forest: Note the parallelism of the story. The tale began with a king hunting in the forest and marrying a bride he found there. Now we have a repetition of similar events.
36. The golden chain from her neck: The sister quickly hands over her necklace in hopes of giving up anything of value she might have upon her so they men might leave her alone.
37. Her girdle: In this instance, a girdle is "a band of material around the waist that strengthens a skirt or trousers" (WordNet). The girdle is not part of her underwear but an outer garment, often embroidered or decorated for women. The girdle would be one of her more valuable articles of clothing.
38. Her garters: A garter is "a band worn around the leg to hold up a stocking (or around the arm to hold up a sleeve)" (WordNet). The sister gradually chooses more intimate and valuable apparel in her efforts to appease the men and make them leave her alone. Garters, especially for a princess, would likely be made of fine fabrics such as silk.
39. Her dress: The sister would not be nude after giving up her dress. She is still wearing underwear which would resemble a plain cotton nightgown or similar garment in today's dressing standards. In past times, clothing included foundation clothing such as shifts or petticoats to be worn underneath the outer dress.
40. He asked her in all the languages he knew: Speaking several languages was an important skill and highly regarded in diplomats and royalty, as well as the higher classes, in times past. The importance of knowing more than one language is still important today, of course.
41. Dumb: To be dumb is to be "unable to speak" whether from physical defect, shock, choice, etc. (WordNet). The story is not describing the sister's intelligence, although mutes were often incorrectly considered less intelligent in times past, hence the multiple meanings for the word.
42. After some days he married her: The sister begins to create a family of her own through marriage and childbirth, but she will not devote herself fully to her new life until her brothers have been rescued. She cannot sacrifice one family in favor of another.
43. Not worthy of a king: The mothers in the Princess and the Pea and de Villeneuve's version of Beauty and the Beast are also concerned about the royal heritage and perceived worthiness of their sons' wives, although they do not resort to wicked ways to get rid of the prospective brides.
44. Her first child: A first born son, and perhaps a daughter, would be the crown prince. The loss of the child is not just a personal tragedy for the Queen, but a possible disaster for her kingdom which relies on progeny to avoid strife in the royal lineage.
45. Old mother took it away from her: Similar plot lines appear in other fairy tales. In Perrault's version of Sleeping Beauty, the ogress mother-in-law tries to have her grandchildren cooked for her meals.
46. Queen had killed it: In the original version instead of this softened translation, the mother-in-law goes so far as to smear the sister's mouth with blood while she is sleeping. She accuses the woman of witchcraft and cannibalism.
47. Her innocence would be proved: The sister's innocence is accepted until the third event when coincidence is no longer considered. Three witnesses are often required to prove guilt.
48. Third child: The number and/or pattern of three often appears in fairy tales to provide rhythm and suspense. The pattern adds drama and suspense while making the story easy to remember and follow. The third event often signals a change and/or ending for the listener/reader. A third time also disallows coincidence such as two repetitive events would suggest. The reasons and theories behind three's popularity are numerous and diverse. The number has been considered powerful across history in different cultures and religions, but not all of them. Christians have the Trinity, the Chinese have the Great Triad (man, heaven, earth), and the Buddhists have the Triple Jewel (Buddha, Dharma, Sanga). The Greeks had the Three Fates. Pythagoras considered three to be the perfect number because it represented everything: the beginning, middle, and end. Some cultures have different powerful numbers, often favoring seven, four and twelve.
49. She must be burnt to death: Burning occurs often in fairy tales. It is symbolic of purification (Matthews 1986). Gerhard Mueller, who has studied the criminological aspects of several tales, states that in the Middle Ages, the charge of witchcraft was punished by fire, usually burning at the stake. In other words, the heroine's punishment fits the crime of which she has been accused (Mueller 1986).
50. It was the last day of the six years: The turn of events here relies heavily on coincidence, even more so than in the fairy tale pantheon, as it does in many variants of the AT 451 tale. A. S. Byatt writes: "Everything in the tales appears to happen entirely by chance - and this has the strange effect of making it appear that nothing happens by chance, that everything is fated" (Byatt 2004).
51. There was only the left sleeve wanting to the last: The shirt's unfinished state provides suspense. Will the missing sleeve cause none of the disenchantment to work or will there be a different consequence?
52. The youngest had a swan's wing instead of his left arm: The brother with a wing for an arm has been the subject of some modern interpretative fiction, such as Nicholas Stuart Gray's The Seventh Swan and Ursula Synge's Swan's Wing. Return to place in story.
53. The wicked mother came to no good end: In The Seven Ravens, "the wicked step-mother was taken before the judge, and put into a barrel filled with boiling oil and venomous snakes, and died an evil death."
54. But the King and the Queen with their six brothers lived many years in happiness and peace: In most variants of the tale, the brothers are integrated into the sister's new family, never returning to live with their father. Since the sister does not find a husband in The Seven Ravens, everyone returns to the original family at the end of that tale. |
