The six swans story for kids
Once upon a time, a certain king was hunting in a great
forest, and he chased a wild beast so eagerly that none of his attendants could
follow him. When evening drew near he
stopped and looked around him, and then he saw that he had lost his way. He sought a way out, but could find none. Then he perceived an aged woman with a head
which nodded perpetually, who came towards him, but she was a witch. Good woman, said he to her, can you not show
me the way through the forest. Oh, yes,
lord king, she answered, that I certainly can, but on one condition, and if you
do not .
What kind of condition is it, asked the king. I have a daughter, said the old woman, who is as beautiful as anyone in the world, and well deserves to be your consort, and 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 consented and the old woman led him to her little hut, where her daughter was sitting by the fire. She received the king as if she had been expecting him, and he saw that she was very beautiful, but still she did not please him, and he could not look at her without secret horror. After he had taken the maiden up on his horse, the old woman showed him the way, and the king reached his royal palace again, where the wedding was celebrated.
The king had already been married once, and had by his first
wife, seven children, six boys and a girl, whom he loved better than anything
else in the world. As he now feared that
the stepmother might not treat them well, and even do them some injury, he took
them to a lonely castle which stood in the midst of a forest. It lay so concealed, and the way was so difficult
to find that he himself would not have found it, if a wise woman had not given
him a ball of yarn with wonderful properties.
When he threw it down before him, it unrolled itself and showed him his
path.
The king, however, went so frequently away to his dear children
that the queen observed his absence, she was curious and wanted to know what he
did when he was quite alone in the forest.
She gave a great deal of money to his servants, and they betrayed the
secret to her, and told her likewise of the ball which alone could point out the
way. And now she knew no rest until she
had learnt where the king kept the ball of yarn, and then she made little
shirts of white silk, and as she had learnt the art of witchcraft from her
mother, she sewed a charm inside them.
And once when the king had ridden forth to hunt, she took the little
shirts and went into the forest, and the ball showed her the way.