The Wild Swans
Brothers become birds
A fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen in which a princess must remain silent while weaving shirts from nettles to break a spell that turned her eleven brothers into swans.
The story emphasizes endurance and sacrifice—the heroine suffers accusations of witchcraft rather than speak and doom her brothers.
We read "The Wild Swans" every Christmas.
- once upon a timeTraditional narrative opening
- feathersBird's lightweight covering
- fairy taleMagical children's narrative
- nettlesPrickly plants causing rash
- brothersMale children of same parents
Hans Christian Andersen · princess · enchantment · spell · wings · silence · weaving · shirts · transformation · flight · migration · lake · grace · happily ever after · devotion · loyalty · sacrifice · true love
wild, wilds, wildly, wildness, wilder, wildest, wilderness, swan, swans