Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 4:07
The Wild Swans
A wicked queen turns eleven princes into swans, and their sister Elisa must knit nettle shirts in total silence to save them. Andersen's tale, retold.
Narrator
Elisa
The Wicked Queen
The Eldest Brother
The Fairy
The Young King
The ArchbishopOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Wild Swans is a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1838. It draws on an old folk tale that the Brothers Grimm also told as The Six Swans: Princess Elisa must knit nettle shirts in silence to free her eleven brothers from their stepmother's spell. This bedtime version follows Andersen closely, but Elisa is taken to the town square to be judged rather than to be burned as a witch, and she gathers her nettles behind the church instead of in a graveyard.
What it teaches
Love can be patient and quiet. Elisa keeps going through pain and misunderstanding without one word of complaint, because her brothers need her, and in the end the truth comes out.
Suits
Ages 5–10
Tips for telling it
- Try a silent minute together first: how hard is it to say nothing at all?
- Count on your fingers as Elisa knits: eleven brothers, eleven shirts.
- Ask why the youngest brother kept one swan wing, and what he might do with it.
Questions people ask
- What is the moral of The Wild Swans?
- Real love is patient and keeps its promises, even when it hurts and nobody understands. Elisa's silent, painful work shows that loyalty and perseverance can undo even a powerful spell.
- How many brothers does Elisa have in The Wild Swans?
- Eleven. Her stepmother turns all eleven princes into wild swans, and Elisa knits one nettle shirt for each of them. The last shirt is missing a sleeve, so the youngest keeps a swan's wing.
- Why couldn't Elisa speak in The Wild Swans?
- The fairy warned her that she must not say a word from the moment she began the shirts until they were all finished. In Andersen's original, her first word would pierce her brothers' hearts like a dagger.
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