Preface
214 Words
PrefaceThis story is based on the Six Swans by the Brothers Grimm.
Six brothers have been turned into swans by their stepmother. To free them, their sister Elise must make six shirts out of nettles and can’t make a sound for six years or the spell will never be broken.
The King of another country finds her doing this, is taken by her beauty, and marries her. When Elise, now queen, has given birth to their first child, the King’s own wicked mother-in-law takes away the child and accuses the queen of that deed. Unable to defend herself, Elise is sentenced to be burned at the stake as a witch.
On the day of her execution, she has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers. Only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake she takes the shirts with her and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form. The youngest brother is left with a wing because she didn’t finish the shirt.
The evil mother-in-law is punished and the king and the queen with her six brothers live many years in happiness and peace.
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