The Swan Maidens and the Silver Knight

The two countries, Gelderland and Brabant adjoin each other, but their

rivers flow far apart.

Once there was a castle, that stood on the banks of the Scheldt, on

which the city of Brabo, named Antwerp, stands. Instead of being full

of light and joy for all within its walls, there was a princess named

Elsje, who was kept a prisoner there.

Her father and mother, dying when she was a little child, left her in

the care of a count, who was to be her guardian. This nobleman was a

selfish villain, and hoped to get her lands and estate. So he shut her

up as a prisoner in the castle. If any knight should fight and overcome

him, the princess would be delivered; but, as the wicked count was a

man of gigantic strength and skilled in war, no one had ever attempted

to meet him in battle.

The Princess Elsje was very lovely in character. In her captivity she

was kind to the birds and all the winged creatures, being especially

fond of seven swans, which she fed every day. Each one was very tame

and took its food out of her hand. She knew them all by the names she

had given them, Fuzzy, Buzzy, Trumpet, Jet, Diamond, Whitey and Black

Eye. They were her best friends, for she was very lonely and had no

human companions. Nor had she any idea that they were anything but dumb

creatures that never could repay her kindness. But, strange to say,

these seven swans were birds only in form. They had been changed by a

wicked fairy from pretty maidens into swans. It was on this wise.

Once, while the good king of Gelderland had gone out hunting in the

forest, with his lords and retainers, he rode in advance, for he was

pursuing a deer. He got so far from his companions that he lost his

way. Coming near a hut in the woods, to inquire how he might get back

to his palace, he met an old woman. She promised to show him the way

out and back home. Immediately the king pulled out his purse to hand

her a gold coin; but the old woman proudly waved her hand to scorn the

money and said to him, “You must marry my daughter and make her your

queen. If you do not, you can never get home again.”

The king hesitated about giving his promise at once, even before he had

seen the lady, for he had seven motherless children, all daughters at

home. Their mother, on her dying bed, had made her husband give her a

promise that the children should always be first in his thoughts.

Now, if he should marry again, would his new wife be good to them? He

would much rather that they should first see their future mother and

give their love to her, before he took his second wife.

But now, as he was very weary and almost ready to drop with hunger, he

could not hesitate. He might die of weakness, while vainly wandering in

the forest. Moreover, the old woman said to him, quite sharply:

“If you refuse, you will never get out of these woods and will starve

to death. Come into my hut and I will feed you well.”

The king entered and found sitting by the fire a most beautiful maiden.

He thought he had never seen a woman so fair, yet he did not like her.

She rose from her seat and came forward to greet him, as if she had

been waiting for him. There was a table spread with plenty of good

things to eat. The king sat down and the damsel herself waited upon him

while he enjoyed the meal.

But all the time, the king did not like her looks, any more than at the

first. At times he shuddered, for fear she might be some evil creature

in lovely human form. However, he had promised the old woman to marry

her daughter and it was now death to refuse. So he took the beautiful

girl on his steed and rode straight to his castle, for the horse seemed

to know the right way.

That very evening, the wedding took place with great pomp. The

wonderful thing was, that all the lords and ladies and servants had

supposed that their master the king had purposely left them, the day

before, to make a journey to get him a wife. So they were now all ready

for him in their best dresses and jewels, and glad to welcome his

bride. All remarked upon her beauty, but the king still feared that his

new wife was wicked and cruel, and his heart sank within him.

So, to make sure, he took his seven children off into a castle that was

deep in the forests and not easily found. Even he himself had trouble

in getting to it, until a wise old woman gave him a ball of yarn. This

ball had the wonderful property of finding paths in the wood. If one

threw it on the ground it would unroll of itself. So the king had a

clue to the forest palace and daily went to visit his little folks and

played with them.

The new wife noticed his going away so often, and becoming jealous of

her lord’s absences, she scolded him, saying to him that he did not

love her, to be thus away from her so many times. At last she found

out, from the palace servants, where he kept the ball.

Then she made seven little coats and in each one she sewed an evil

charm, which her wicked old mother had taught her. Walking in the woods

until she came to the castle, she pretended to be glad to see the

children, telling them that she had brought each one a present. The

little folks were delighted and thought their step-mother was both

lovely and kind. They put on their new coats and then gleefully danced

together, joining hands as in a chorus. But in a few minutes a strange

feeling came over them. Wings grew where their arms had been, their

necks lengthened, while their legs shortened and became weblike. They

were all changed into swans and flew out of the window. So the king

never saw his children again.

The seven swans enjoyed their life in the air and soon joined the great

flock that belonged to the king of the country of Brabant, where the

princess Elsje was kept in the castle, on the Scheldt River. The royal

swanherd, though he had a thousand or more birds under his care, when

counting the cygnets, or swan babies, noticed the addition of the seven

pretty birds and wondered whence they had come.

The seven swan maidens soon got acquainted with all the other swans,

for these birds are very sociable and talk to each other in their own

language. In this way they learned the story of the captive Brabant

princess. When they found they were her favorites, and she had given

each one of them a name, and every day called them to be fed, their

hearts were melted by the kindness of the pretty lady. Sometimes they

found her in tears and heard her pray for wings to fly away. This made

them wish that they could leave their swan forms and be like her again,

as they once were. Or, if not thus able, they longed to help her in

some way.

They all agreed that they would rather remain swan maidens and be free

to fly and do as they liked, rising about and up into the air, or

sailing on the water, than to be shut up for life in a prison. Even

though it were in a castle with gardens and a swan lake, they would

rather be birds than captives. They were filled with pity for the

lonely princess thus pining away.

The oldest and the youngest of the seven swans, Fuzzy and Black Eye,

both of which had snow white plumage, were especially eager to help the

maiden. Of all the seven, they two were the strongest. Every day they

declared to their sisters and to the real swans that they would

sometime find a way to set the princess free. The oldest of the swans

only jeered at the idea or hissed scornfully.

“How can human beings fly? They have no wings like us and you boasters

cannot give her yours.” And they laughed a swan’s laugh.

Now in one thing, at least, these seven swan sisters were different

from the other birds. They were accustomed, every week or so, to make a

long flight back to Gelderland, to their old forest home and

playground, to take a look at their fond father, who, however, never

dreamed that these winged creatures were his children.

In the times of these visits to the forest palace, but only while they

were there, the enchantment failed; yet only for a quarter of an hour.

During these few minutes, while in the woods, they played together as

girls, as in the happy days of yore, when their father used to come and

see them. But this they could not do now within the royal palace

gardens, where their father walked, and when in the dense forest

itself, they could not find the way out as girls, for they were swans

again, almost as soon as they started to find the path.

So they did the next best thing. They flew to the royal palace gardens

and circled around his head and dropped feathers to show their

feelings. The king noticed this, and gave strict orders that no one

should shoot an arrow, throw a net, or lay a trap for these birds, that

he loved to welcome as visitors which gave him happiness. The wicked

queen, however, knew all about these swans, but she never told her

husband. She let him mourn for his children, month after month and year

after year.

Now while the swan sisters were thinking of rescuing the Princess

Elsje, she also was planning to save them, in order to bring them back

to human form. There was a good fairy who lived on the Lek River, who

hated the wicked step-mother of the swan maidens and knew how to

destroy her enchantments. But this good fairy possessed her power only

on the water, but she fastened on the neck of Fuzzy, the oldest of the

swans, a message telling the princess how to break the charm.

The way to do it was this: The princess was to make seven little coats

of swan feathers, and then she was not to speak a word to any soul, for

seven months. At the end of that time, she was to put a coat on each of

the swan sisters. Then, they would at once become maidens again.

Now in Gelderland there lived a handsome young knight, who wore a suit

of armor of silver steel and had a plume of snow white feathers in his

helmet. He was as brave as a lion and loved to rescue poor people from

robbers and to help all who were in trouble.

One day, while out hunting, he by chance reached the castle in the

woods, where the king had kept his children and to which the seven

swans flew every week. He drew his bow and was just about to shoot,

when the birds dropped their feather suits and seven pretty maidens

stood before him.

“Oh, good sir, hurt us not,” they cried, “we are human, only for a

quarter of an hour; but, oh, do come and follow us. We’ll guide you to

a princess in distress and you can save her.”

The knight was delighted to hear these words, for the task the swan

maidens proposed was just what he longed to attempt. They had hardly

told their story, before they had to resume their swan forms. It was

agreed that Fuzzy and Black Eye, the whitest and the strongest of the

seven swans, should be the pilots of the knight to the well-guarded

castle, where the princess was a captive. The five swans flew back to

the flock, but the absence of the other two was not noticed by the

king’s swanherd.

So, guided by his brace of snowy white and feathered pilots, who kept

in the air above him, the knight made his way through the forests and

across the country, until he came to the Scheldt River. There were no

boats, the current was rapid and the river wide. How should he get

across?

“Oh, how shall we help our knight down such a flood as this?” said

Fuzzy to Black Eye.

While the Silver Knight was wondering, the good fairy who had sent the

message to the princess, stepped out from among the river weeds. She

had a star crown on her head and a wand of gold in her hand. She spoke

thus to the knight:

“Take that dead tree trunk, which lies on the ground, all wreathed with

vines, and launch it into the river, for my power extends only over the

water. Because of your knightly record as a brave hero, I shall have

these swans guide you to the castle. Once on shore, you must fight your

own battle. Promise to rescue the princess.”

The knight took oath, on the hilt of his sword, that he would. Then the

fairy touched the dead tree and it became a pretty boat, shaped like a

shell. She bade the two swans take their places in front. Then touching

the wild vines, growing on the log, and throwing them over their long

curved snow-white necks, lo! they became silver harness, to draw the

boat, and silver bridles, which the rider standing in the boat, held,

as the birds darted swiftly forward.

He waved his thanks and farewell in gratitude to the fairy.

“Good speed and sure success to you,” cried the fairy. “You will find

the princess doing my work.”

It was to be a battle of enchantments, for the good fairy was trying to

undo the spell, which the wicked stepmother, the king’s wife, had cast

over the swan maidens. Yet she could do nothing on land without the aid

of a brave knight. She had been a long time waiting for such a hero.

Now he had come.

To make effective the charm of restoring swan maidens to human forms,

while she was making the feather coats, it was absolutely necessary for

the Princess Elsje to do two hard things; one was, not to speak a word

till the coats were finished, and the swans transformed; the second was

not to ask the knight who he was or where he came from. Even when he

was her husband, she must be silent on this matter. She had to promise

this, or the good fairy would do nothing.

Into the swan boat, the young knight in his shining silver-steel armor,

bravely stepped. Then with their four web feet beating tirelessly under

the river waves, that curled against their breasts, the two strong

birds drew the shell boat until they were near the castle in Brabant.

It was a day of tournament, and hundreds of lords and ladies were

gathered together to see the knights on horseback rush at each other in

the game of friendly rivalry, as rough as war, in which sometimes men

were killed. The herald sounded the trumpet to call forth a champion

for the imprisoned maiden. Whosoever should vanquish the cruel count

should have the lady’s strong castle and her rich estate. Glorious in

her beauty, Princess Elsje sat in the place of honor, crowned with

flowers, as she had sat again and again before, but never a word had

she spoken to a soul.

The echoes of the first trumpet blast died away. No one came.

The second summons sounded. None answered.

The third blast had not ended, before the knight in the silver steel

armor stepped forward. He asked the maiden if she would accept him as

her husband, if he overcame the count. She spoke not a word, but nodded

her head, beaming with a joy that inspired him to valor.

The Silver Knight threw down his glove as a challenge.

Again the trumpet pealed and the two champions rushed at each other.

All expected that the count, being so heavy and strong would win, but

the battle was soon decided, for the Silver Knight was victorious. The

count, senseless, and with a broken head, was borne off the field.

Now the knight had been told not to expect his bride to speak to him

until after the marriage, but to be content with a nod of her head and

the language of her eyes. Yet those eyes spoke to him their message,

and he was full of joy.

Even when he asked her whether she would marry him, without ever now,

or hereafter, asking who he was, or whence he came, her answer was with

a nod of the head, and a low bow, with one of her hands on her heart

and the other raised to heaven. This was enough. He was satisfied.

The wedding was celebrated with great pomp and joy. For many weeks

afterwards, the silent princess kept busy with her needle, making

little coats of swan feathers, but of this her husband seemed to

approve and gladly he praised his bride’s industry.

Now on the day when the seven swans from Gelderland were accustomed to

fly back to their old home, the forest castle, and before they had

risen from the water to stretch their wings, the princess called them,

and each by name before her. Then, in the presence of her knight, she

threw the coats over them. Instantly feathers, wings, arched necks and

webbed feet disappeared, and seven lovely maidens stood before them.

Now, since their father had died, they all asked to stay in Brabant and

serve the princess at her court. This offer she gladly accepted.

But the princess had no sooner regained the use of her voice than she

seemed consumed with a curiosity she had not felt before. In the new

joy of having fulfilled one promise, made to the river fairy in behalf

of the swan sisters, she forgot that made to the knight, her husband.

Her eagerness to know who and whence he was increased, until one day

she burst out, with the questions. The knight reminded her of her vow

which, with solemn gesture, she had made to him, before he risked his

life for her. When she urged that his love for her could not be deep or

real, if he kept a secret from her, he made answer:

“It is not I that love less, or have broken faith. It is you.” Then,

rushing out of the palace, he leaped upon his horse and disappeared in

the forest, riding back to Gelderland, and the princess though no

longer a captive, but free and rich, was sorrowful and lonely.