Swan Lake

Swan Princess

The Queen held a ball, as evidenced by the windows in the reception rooms of the castle, sparkling from the fire of thousands of lighted candles. The ball was without her, without the princess, and Etienne, as always, was in no hurry to attend. He stopped his horse at the castle gates, today was the night he was supposed to meet Odette at the swan lakes. Whether she would come there, doubts tormented him and haunted him. Odette, like a ghost, alluring and beautiful, then appeared and disappeared, both in his life and in his kingdom. Previously, she was completely different, but now some kind of sadness lurked in her eyes, something was wrong, but Etienne tried not to notice it, in the end, he should have been happy, because tonight he meets her.

In the appearance of Odette, something swan slipped, something from a majestic and graceful bird with a crown on its proud head. Etienne could not live without her, he fell in love with her at first sight.

He had to fight for his love, he understood this and was ready for any trials. The prince was about to, having refreshed himself, quickly sweep the castle. Suddenly torches flashed in the night, and the guards of the castle approached Etienne. Their faces were somehow strange.

“Your Highness,” respectfully, but with unusual persistence, the chief of the guards addressed him, “we must escort you to the ball.”

“To the ball?” burst out from Etienne, “should I be present at the ball.”

“Sorry, but we were ordered to take you to the ball,” the guard apologized politely.

“You forget,” said the prince, and his hand rested on the hilt of the sword, but then Fritz emerged from the crowd of guards, his eyes begged Etienne not to rebel, but to obey.

“All right,” said Etienne, and reluctantly followed the guards.

Fritz imperceptibly caught him by the arm, and the warning squeeze alerted the prince.

“Be careful!” Fritz managed to whisper, “someone is up to something against you.”

In the ballroom, the queen again tried to impose Rosalyn on Etienne.

The dance began. Rosalyn lowered herself to him in a curtsy, and it seemed to him that in her place he saw Odette's sparkling dress and her clear eyes. He held the hand of an unwanted bride, and saw the blond hair of his love, he could only dance with her, and not with any other girl, because she alone was the queen of his heart. The ghost had the magical charm of a princess, was light and beautiful. It called, it beckoned into his passionate embrace, but it was just a dream.

The whirlwind of the dance made Etienne mad, he believed that he was dancing with Odette, he saw her face, heard her voice, admired her smile. Suddenly, the prince woke up, and saw that Fritz was desperately trying to get his attention. Fritz held a hunting weapon in his hands and showed Etienne to the exit. Etienne let go of Rosalyn's disgusting hand from his and walked over to his friend.

“I want to hunt,” he said so that everyone could hear, and took a crossbow in his hand.

“Come on, Fritz,” Etienne commanded, and before anyone could detain them, they and their friend Ben with them left the hall. Now the free expanse of forests, and there lakes awaited them, now Etienne could find Odette and forget that there had once been misfortunes in his life, but danger was still waiting for him, although he could not yet know about it.

“Finally we left the castle,” Fritz shouted at full gallop from his horse.

- Yes, - Etienne cried out, he was not afraid of anything now, he knew that he would win anyway and would not let the forces of evil deceive him.

They drove onto the dark road leading to the lake, which was what Etienne wanted, but Fritz grabbed his arm in warning.

“No, not this way,” he said with fear in his voice.

= Why, - escaped the prince.

“If you want to live, then don't ask about it,” came a frightened, alarming answer.

“I’ll go here,” said Etienne fearlessly.

“You, that’s crazy,” Fritz only managed to shout, but the madly in love prince could not be stopped, he had to insist on his own.

Suddenly a strong wind blew from the direction of the strange road, but Etienne, without hesitation, headed for the lakes.

“He’s crazy,” Fritz just managed to say, “he’s going to die.

- Let's go after him, Ben shouted boldly.

- You are the second insane, - said Fritz, stunned, two more madmen were missing on his neck, not only did he always have to watch first the drunken and fighting, and then the prince in love.

- Without him, the courtiers will kill us from the world, - Ben explained, - while he seems to be the only good prince in the kingdom. If you die, then with him.

And Fritz had no choice but to go after the second madman.

Etienne drove quickly, soon he found himself on the swan lakes, on the borders of two kingdoms, they were afraid to enter this place, they were afraid of him. The legend of the enchanted swan girls came to mind.

Whether it was true or a fairy tale, is it all the same, the main thing was that the beautiful enchanting legend lived for an eternity, and people should not be afraid of it as much as now.

It would be nice to shoot a swan, the prince thought. He always felt sorry for these graceful birds, but now some devil was shouting in his ears and giving commands. He obediently took a crossbow in his hands and inserted an arrow into it. The whole lake suddenly lit up with radiance, dazzling and fabulous, and a white swan was floating on it, but it was not an ordinary bird, it was a swan with a crown on its head.

And from behind Etienne a terrible black figure appeared, and an eerie voice shouted right in his ear:

“Shoot!”

“Shoot!” he repeated, like a dull and vicious echo, - shoot, Prince Etienne, and you will forever part with your dream!

Etienne braced himself, a moment more and he would have fired, but suddenly the swan raised its wings, and golden rays enveloped him, they all grew, covering the entire lake, the swan began to change, and his feathers turned into folds of a silk dress.

Etienne's heart sank, he could not believe that the legend was true. Instead of the white swan, there was now Odette. Her white dress was covered in swan down like the plumage of a proud bird, her blond hair was blowing in a breeze. She was lovely.

Etienne threw aside the unnecessary weapon and rushed to her. He didn't care that she was bewitched, that she was the beloved of the king of evil, that she was a swan girl. She was the one for whom he was willing to give his life.

“I knew you were coming,” she whispered.

“I could not help but come,” Etienne replied.

Suddenly a wind blew from the north, and the water boiled with fire. They barely had time to move away from her. A black figure appeared in front of them, it was terrible to look at it.

- Who are you? - said Etienne, drawing his sword.

- Get out of here, prince, - hissed the gloomy creature - this place does not belong to you, and Odette is not yours either.

“No,” said Etienne firmly.

- Then your death is already close, - was the gloomy answer, and the figure began to grow in size and approach them, but it was not Etienne's sword that frightened her, but the cross on the prince's chest.

The demon sprang up and disappeared, but a terrible hiss still hung over them. Etienne looked at Odette.

- Who was that? - he asked.

“It doesn't matter,” Odette said, “let's go!

She took him by the hand and led him away from the lake, to where a beautiful palace rose behind green trees and blue rocks, with hundreds of burning windows, and swans swam on the water in the lake. They flew into the air, and then, turning into beautiful girls, gave way to the prince and Odette.

In the palace, two girls in white swan dresses put Odette on her head with a sparkling princess crown. Etienne squeezed her hand, now she was human, not the hand of a ghost, now he saw Odette the same.

The ball began, and in the light of the candles Odette herself seemed to be a swan, her dress was all covered with swan down, and hundreds of girls in white danced with each other, two by two in a dance in which there were no gentlemen.

Etienne and Odette danced with each other. Their hands sometimes joined, then parted again, like the hands of all pairs of girls in the hall, but this dance was beautiful.

“You must go,” Odette whispered, “morning is coming.

“But I don’t want to leave,” he said. “I cannot live without seeing you.

“No, you don’t understand,” the swan princess shook her head sadly, “with the coming of the morning I will be enchanted again, I will become a bird again.

- If I could remove this spell from you!

- Nobody can take it off.

“But how,” he whispered, “how it happened.

“My mother’s beauty was cursed, an evil genius bewitched me, and no one can make me human again.

“I can,” he volunteered, “whatever it costs me, even my life itself.

“Goodbye,” said Odette, “the night disappears into the dawn of a new day, I can no longer remain here in the form of a man.

“No, goodbye,” said the prince, “I’ll come here again to find some way to save you, I will definitely return.

Odette looked at him for the last time when he was leaving the palace, and she was surrounded by girls - swans, because now they were her subjects.

They were all sweet and beautiful, but Odette was the most beautiful of all.

“Do not be sad, princess,” one of her subjects told her, they all had a good heart, which is why they became white birds on the witch's lakes.

“Why are you so sad?” the other whispered.

“Why don't you want to continue the ball until full dawn?” the third stammered.

“Why?” Odette repeated sadly, “because I love a mortal man.”

Her answer amazed the girls, and everyone involuntarily looked at each other. They sympathized with their princess, but there was nothing they could do, after all, they too were just bewitched beauties.

Suddenly the crowd parted as if by magic, and Odette saw in front of her an ugly girl in rich silk robes.

How could she sneak into the swan ball in the enchanted palace? ghost. Her face was twisted with hatred, and in her hand she held a long sharpened knife from which drops of blood dripped.

“The hour of justice is approaching, the princess - the swan,” Rosalyn hissed with an evil grin (and it was she), “the hour when I get what you took from me, and the moment of your death comes, then Etienne will get me.”

“You had no right to come here,” proudly throwing up her head, Odette responded, in a stern voice that does not allow objections, “you are not a welcome guest here.”

“And you, princess,” Rosalyn squeezed out of herself, “you have no right to earthly love, to human happiness. You are just an enchanted bird, not a girl from the human world.”

But Odette ignored her, and the princess's arrogance made Rosalyn even more angry. What could hurt more than composure in the face of the enemy, who threatened death and death.

“Get out of here,” said Odette, “leave of your own free will, before I ordered to expel you from here.”

“It's getting late,” her hater answered her and raised the knife high in the air, but instead of hitting Odette’s heart, she lowered it and cut her arm.

Blood trickled from the knife-cut palm, and Rosalyn squeezed her hand so that it sprayed harder.

“I swear on my blood that I will destroy you,” Rosalyn said. “I will not find you, I will ruin your life, and no prince can save you.”

With these words she turned and walked towards the exit. The swan girl looked after her calmly, now another curse lay on her. The forces of evil are insidious and powerful, but good must overcome them.

The morning began, it carried the warmth of the sun, and Odette had to go back to the lake and become a swan with a golden crown on her head.

It was getting dark. Knowing that at night he would not have time to sleep, Etienne dozed in the luxurious royal bedchamber. Suddenly something made him open his eyes, and a miracle happened: he saw in front of him a girl in a sparkling white dress, with blond hair gathered in a chignon and a black mask on her face. The most amazing thing was that behind her back two pearl-white wings trembled, so delicate and fragile that they seemed to be made of silk and satin, but under the mask her face was not visible, only huge, huge eyes shone against the background of the mask it was impossible to hide them.

At first, Etienne thought that he was dreaming of an aerial vision, but the girl touched his hand and beckoned him to follow her. He followed her, and they found themselves in a huge hall, where the same light, airy girls with wings on their backs, in dresses green like spring leaves, danced.

A crowd of fairies surrounded Etienne and the girl accompanying him. The fairies laughed, tickled them, and frolicked around them. The girl took off her mask, but instead of the fairy, Etienne saw the disfigured face of the lord of the witch's roses.

“Remember,” the evil spirit grinned.

“Remember, you promised me your bride!” He said.

Etienne woke up. Only now did he realize what he had done. By the bride, the lord of the witch's roses meant Odette, not the plain Rosalyn. Odette was in danger, he must hurry.