The Six Swans
Encyclopedia
The Six Swans is a German fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales .-Composition:...

 by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...

. It is tale number 49. Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...

 included a variant in The Yellow Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 451: the brothers who were turned into birds. Other tales of this type include The Magic Swan Geese
The Magic Swan Geese
The Magic Swan Geese or is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451...

, The Seven Ravens
The Seven Ravens
The Seven Ravens is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.It is tale number 25, and Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds. Georgios A Megas collected another, Greek variant in Folktales of Greece...

, The Twelve Wild Ducks
The Twelve Wild Ducks
The Twelve Wild Ducks is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds.-Plot summary:...

, Udea and her Seven Brothers
Udea and her Seven Brothers
Udea and her Seven Brothers is a Northern African fairy tale collected by Hans von Stumme in Märchen und Gedichte aus der Stadt Tripolis. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451.-Synopsis:...

, The Wild Swans
The Wild Swans
"The Wild Swans" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her eleven brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen....

, and The Twelve Brothers
The Twelve Brothers
The Twelve Brothers is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 9. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds...

.

Synopsis

Six brothers from a King's first marriage have been turned into swans by their hateful stepmother (a beautiful but evil daughter of a witch). The brothers can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. In order to free them, their sister (Sydnee) must make six shirts out of starwort for her brothers, and neither speak nor laugh for six years. The King of another country finds her doing this, is taken by her beauty and marries her. When the Queen has given birth to their first child, the King's own wicked mother takes away the child and accuses the Queen, and again with the second and the third. The third time, the Queen is sentenced to be burned at the stake. 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. (In some versions she does not finish the sixth shirt in time, and the youngest brother is left as a swan. Another version would have 5 of the brothers returned to normal, except for the youngest brother, whose left arm remains as a swan's wing). The Queen, now free to speak, can defend herself against the accusations. Her mother-in-law is burned at the stake instead of her, and the King, Queen, and her six brothers live happily ever after.

Adaptations

  • Daughter of the Forest
    Daughter of the Forest
    Daughter of the Forest is an historical fantasy novel by Juliet Marillier first published in 1999 It is loosely based on "The Six Swans" . A girl must sew six shirts from a painful nettle plant in order to save her brothers from a witch's enchantment, remaining completely mute until the task is...

    , the first book of the Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier
    Juliet Marillier
    Juliet Marillier is a New Zealand-born writer of fantasy, especially historical fantasy. She currently lives in Western Australia. While Marillier writes mostly for adults, her recent books have included Cybele's Secret, a sequel to her novel for young adults Wildwood Dancing. Cybele's Secret won...

    , is a detailed retelling of this story in a medieval Celtic setting.
  • An episode "The Six Swans" in the anime series Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
    Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics
    is a Japanese animated anthology series by Nippon Animation. The episodes are adaptations of a variety of folk and fairy tales, and not limited to Grimm's Fairy Tales....

    . This plot differs in some parts from the Grimm's version, especially in the second part of the story. In anime, it is the Queen's visiting witch-stepmother who accuses the Queen (instead of the King's mother). She has also killed cast her spell and then killed her husband (not in the original story) in order to gain the total control of the kingdom instead of mere jealously. The swan-brothers also found the Queen's baby in the forest and kept it alive. In addition, the swan-brothers are permitted to regain their human forms in the original story while in the cartoon they remain swans permanently (that is until their sister breaks the spell). The girl finishes the garments in time therefore the youngest is not left with a swans wing in the end. When the wicked stepmother is exposed as witch she is not burned at the stake (as her magic is so powerful that she almost gets away), however she is destroyed when she accidentally catches fire herself.
  • Paul Weiland
    Paul Weiland
    Paul Weiland is an English motion picture and television director, writer and producer. Weiland is one of Britain's most successful directors and producers of television commercials having made over 500 commercials, including a popular and long-running series for Walkers crisps...

    's episode "The Three Ravens" of Jim Henson
    Jim Henson
    James Maury "Jim" Henson was an American puppeteer best known as the creator of The Muppets. As a puppeteer, Henson performed in various television programs, such as Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper, and created advanced puppets for...

    's television series The Storyteller
    The Storyteller
    The StoryTeller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson....

    is an another retelling of this classic tale. After the queen dies, an evil witch ensnares the king and turn his three sons into raven
    Raven
    Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied...

    s. The princess escapes and must stay silent for three years, three months, three weeks and three days in order to break the spell. But after she meets a handsome prince, this is suddenly not so easy, for her stepmother has killed her father and re-married - to the prince's father. But when the witch attempts to burn the princess at the stake, the ravens attack her and she accidentally sets fire to herself instead, instantly turning into ashes, and her spell is then broken.

External links

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