A young lover of literature, we are firmly convinced that you will enjoy reading the fairy tale "The Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Andersen and that you will be able to learn a lesson and benefit from it. Reading such creations in the evening, the pictures of what is happening become more lively and saturated, filling with a new range of colors and sounds. All the heroes were "honed" by the experience of the people, who for centuries created, strengthened and transformed them, giving great and deep importance to children's education. The text written in the past millennium is surprisingly easy and natural to combine with our present, its relevance has not diminished in the least. Simple and accessible, about nothing and about everything, instructive and edifying - everything is included in the basis and plot of this creation. And a thought comes, and after it a desire, to plunge into this fabulous and incredible world, win the love of a modest and wise princess. Of course, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe superiority of good over evil is not new, of course, many books have been written about it, but it's still nice to be convinced of this every time. The fairy tale "Wild Swans" by Hans Christian Andersen will be fun to read online for free for both children and their parents, the kids will be happy with a good ending, and moms and dads will be happy for the kids!

Far away, in the country where swallows fly away from us for the winter, there lived a king. He had eleven sons and one daughter, Eliza. Eleven brothers-princes went to school with stars on their chests and sabers at their feet. They wrote on gold boards with diamond leads and knew how to read by heart as well as from a book. It was immediately obvious that they were real princes. And their sister Eliza sat on a bench made of mirrored glass and looked at a picture book for which half of the kingdom had been given.
Yes, the children lived well, but not for long. Their father, the king of that country, married an evil queen, and from the very beginning she took a dislike to poor children. They experienced it the very first day. There was a feast in the palace, and the children started a game to visit. But instead of cakes and baked apples, which they always got enough, their stepmother gave them a teacup river sand - let them imagine that this is a treat.
A week later, she gave her sister Eliza to the village to be raised by the peasants, but a little more time passed, and she managed to tell the king so much about the poor princes that he did not want to see them anymore.
- Fly to all four directions and take care of yourself! Said the evil queen. - Fly big birds without a voice!
But it didn't work out the way she wanted: they turned into eleven beautiful wild swans, with a cry they flew out of the windows of the palace and rushed over parks and forests.
It was early morning when they flew past the house where their sister Eliza was still deeply asleep. They began circling over the roof, stretching out their flexible necks and flapping their wings, but no one heard or saw them. So they had to fly away with nothing. They soared under the very clouds and flew into a large dark forest near the seashore.
And poor Eliza remained to live in a peasant house and played with a green leaf - she had no other toys. She poked a hole in the sheet, looked through it at the sun, and it seemed to her that she saw the clear eyes of her brothers. And when a warm ray of sun fell on her cheek, she remembered their tender kisses.
Days went by, one like the other. Sometimes the wind swayed the rose bushes that grew near the house and whispered to the roses:
- Is there anyone more beautiful than you?
The roses shook their heads and answered:
- Eliza.
And it was absolutely true.
But then Eliza was fifteen years old, and she was sent home. When the queen saw how pretty she was, she became angry and hated her even more, And the stepmother would like to turn Eliza into a wild swan, the Jacques of her brothers, but she did not dare to do it now, because the king wanted to see his daughter.
And so early in the morning the queen went to the marble bath, decorated with soft pillows and wonderful carpets, took three toads, kissed each of them and said to the first:
- As Eliza enters the bath, sit on her head, let her become as lazy as you. And you sit on Eliza's forehead, - she said to the other. - Let her become as ugly as you, so that her father does not recognize her. “Well, you lay down on Eliza’s heart,” she said to the third. - Let her become angry and suffer from it!
Let the queen of toads into clear waterand the water turned green at once. Queen Eliza called, undressed and told her to enter the water. Eliza obeyed, and one toad sat on her crown, another on her forehead, and a third on her chest, but Eliza did not even notice this, and as soon as she got out of the water, three scarlet poppies swam in the water. And if the toads were not poisonous and not kissed by a witch, they would turn into scarlet roses. Eliza was so innocent that witchcraft was powerless against her.
The evil queen saw this, rubbed Eliza with walnut juice, so that she turned completely black, smeared her face with a stinking ointment, and disheveled her hair. It was now completely impossible to recognize the pretty Eliza.
Her father saw her, got scared and said that it was not his daughter. No one recognized her, except for a chain dog and swallows, but who would listen to the poor creatures!
Poor Eliza cried and thought of her brothers who had been driven out. Sad, she left the palace and wandered all day through the fields and swamps to the big forest. She herself didn’t really know where to go, but it was so hard on her heart and she yearned for her brothers so much that she decided to look for them until she found them.
She did not walk through the forest for long, when night fell. Eliza completely lost her way, lay down on the soft moss and bowed her head on the stump. It was quiet in the forest, the air was so warm, hundreds of fireflies flickered around with green lights, and when she gently touched the branch, they fell on her like a star rain.
All night Eliza dreamed of brothers. They were all children again, played together, wrote with diamond leads on gold boards and looked at a wonderful picture book, for which half of the kingdom had been given. But they did not write dashes and noughts on the boards, as before, no, they described everything that they saw and experienced. All the pictures in the book came to life, the birds sang, and people left the pages and talked with Eliza and her brothers, but when she turned the page, they jumped back so that there was no confusion in the pictures.
When Eliza woke up, the sun was already high. She could not see him well behind the dense foliage of trees, but his rays floated in the sky, like a vibrating golden muslin. It smelled of grass, and the birds almost sat on Eliza's shoulders. There was a splash of water - several large streams ran nearby, flowing into a pond with a wonderful sandy bottom. The pond was surrounded by dense bushes, but in one place the wild deer made a large passage, and Eliza could go down to the water, so transparent that, if the wind did not sway the branches of trees and bushes, one would think that they were painted on the bottom, so every leaf was clearly reflected in the water, both illuminated by the sun and sheltered in the shade.
Eliza saw her face in the water and was completely frightened - it was so black and disgusting. But then she scooped up a handful of water, washed her forehead and eyes, and her white, dull skin shone again. Then Eliza undressed and went into the cool water. It was more beautiful to look for a princess all over the world!
Eliza dressed, braided her braids long hair and went to the spring, drank from a handful and wandered further into the forest, without knowing where. On the way, she came across a wild apple tree, the branches of which were bent from the weight of the fruit. Eliza ate apples, propped up the branches with stakes and went deep into the thicket of the forest. The silence was such that Eliza heard her own footsteps and the rustling of every dry leaf she stepped on. There was not a single bird to be seen here, not a single ray of sunlight pierced through the continuous interweaving of branches. The tall trees were so dense that when she looked in front of her, it seemed to her that she was surrounded log walls... Eliza had never felt so lonely.
It got even darker at night, not a single firefly shone in the moss. Sad, Eliza lay down on the grass, and early in the morning went on. Then an old woman met her with a basket of berries. The old woman gave Eliza a handful of berries, and Eliza asked if there were eleven princes passing through the forest.
“No,” the old woman answered. - But I saw eleven swans in crowns, they swam on the river nearby.
And the old woman took Eliza to a cliff, under which a river flowed. The trees that grew along its banks pulled long branches covered with dense foliage to each other, and where they could not reach each other, their roots protruded from the ground and, intertwined with the branches, hung over the water.
Eliza said goodbye to the old woman and walked along the river to the place where the river flowed into the great sea.
And then a wonderful sea opened before the girl. But not a single sail was visible on it, not a single boat. How was she to continue on her way? The whole shore was strewn with countless pebbles, the water rolled around them, and they were completely round. Glass, iron, stones - everything that was washed ashore by the waves took its shape from the water, and the water was much softer than Eliza's gentle hands.
“Waves tirelessly roll one after another and smooth out everything solid, I will be tireless too! Thank you for the science, bright, fast waves! My heart tells me that someday you will take me to my dear brothers! "
Eleven white swan feathers lay on the seaweed thrown out by the sea, and Eliza gathered them in a bunch. Drops glistened on them - dew or tears, who knows? It was deserted on the shore, but Eliza did not notice it: the sea was always changing, and in a few hours more could be seen here than in a whole year on freshwater lakes on land. A big black cloud is approaching, and the sea seems to be saying: “I can look gloomy too,” - and the wind swoops in, and the waves show their white underside. But the clouds gleam pink, the wind sleeps, and the sea looks like a rose petal. Sometimes it is green, sometimes it is white, but no matter how calm it may be, it is constantly in motion near the coast. The water rises gently, like the chest of a sleeping child.
At sunset Eliza saw eleven wild swans in golden crowns. They flew towards land, one after the other, and it looked like a long white ribbon was waving in the sky. Eliza climbed to the top of the bank and hid behind a bush. Swans descended nearby and flapped their large white wings.
And as soon as the sun set in the sea, the swans dropped their feathers and turned into eleven beautiful princes - Eliza's brothers, Eliza screamed loudly, immediately recognized them, felt in her heart that it was they, although the brothers had changed a lot. She threw herself into their arms, called them by their names, and how happy they were to see their sister, who had grown so much prettier! And Eliza and her brothers laughed and cried and soon learned from each other how cruelly their stepmother had treated them.
- We, - said the eldest of the brothers, - fly wild swanswhile the sun is in the sky. And when it comes down, we again take a human form. That is why we must always be on land by sunset. If we happen to turn into humans, when we fly under the clouds, we will fall into the abyss. We do not live here. Beyond the sea lies the same wonderful country like this, but the way there is long, you have to fly across the sea, and along the way there is not a single island where you could spend the night. Only in the very middle a lonely cliff sticks out of the sea, and we can rest on it, hugging each other closely, that's how small it is. When the sea is rough, the spray is flying right through us, but we are glad to have such a haven. We spend the night there in our human form. Were it not for the cliff, we would not have seen our sweet homeland at all: we need two longest days of the year for this flight, and only once a year are we allowed to fly home. We can live here for eleven days and fly over this large forest, look at the palace where we were born and where our father lives. Here we are familiar with every bush, every tree, here, as in the days of our childhood, wild horses run across the plains, and the coal miners sing the same songs to which we danced as children. Here is our homeland, here we strive with all our hearts, and here we found you, our dear sister! We can stay here for two more days, and then we have to fly overseas to a wonderful, but not native country. How can we take you with us? We have no ship or boat!
- Oh, if I could remove the spell from you! - said the sister.
So they talked all night and dozed off only for a few hours.
Eliza woke up to the sound of swan wings. The brothers again turned into birds, they circled over her, and then disappeared from sight. Only one of the swans, the youngest, stayed with her. He laid his head in her lap and she stroked his white wings. They spent the whole day together, and in the evening the others flew in, and when the sun went down, everyone again took a human form.
“Tomorrow we have to leave and we won't be able to return earlier than in a year. Do you have the courage to fly with us? I alone can carry you in my arms through the whole forest, so can we all not be able to carry you on wings across the sea?
- Yes, take me with you! - said Eliza.
... All night long they weaved a net of flexible willow bark and reeds. Large and durable mesh came out. Eliza lay down in it, and the sun just rose, the brothers turned into swans, caught the net with their beaks and soared with their sweet, still sleeping sister under the clouds. The rays of the sun shone directly into her face, and one swan flew over her head, covering her from the sun with its wide wings.
They were already far from the ground when Eliza woke up, and it seemed to her that she was dreaming in reality, it was so strange to fly through the air. Next to her lay a branch with wonderful ripe berries and a bunch of delicious roots. The youngest of the brothers dialed them, and Eliza smiled at him - she guessed that he was flying over her and shielding her from the sun with his wings.
Swans were flying high, high, so that the first ship they saw looked like a seagull floating on the water. There was a big cloud in the sky behind them - a real mountain! - and on it Eliza saw the giant shadows of eleven swans and her own. She had never seen such a magnificent sight before. But the sun rose higher and higher, a cloud remained farther behind, and little by little the moving shadows disappeared.
All day the swans flew like an arrow fired from a bow, but still more slowly than usual, because this time they had to carry their sister. Evening was approaching, a storm was gathering. Eliza watched with fear as the sun went down - the lonely cliff of the sea was still not visible. And it also seemed to her that the swans were flapping their wings as if through force. Ah, it's her fault that they can't fly faster! The sun will set, and they will turn into people, fall into the sea and drown ...
A black cloud approached closer, strong gusts of wind foreshadowed a storm. The clouds gathered in a formidable leaden shaft rolling across the sky. Lightning flashed one after another.
The sun had already touched the water, Eliza's heart fluttered. The swans suddenly began to descend, so rapidly that Eliza thought they were falling. But no, they continued to fly. Now the sun was half hidden under the water, and only then Eliza saw a cliff under her, no larger than the head of a seal sticking out of the water. The sun was quickly sinking into the sea, and now it seemed no larger than a star. But then the swans stepped on the stone, and the sun went out like the last spark of burning paper. The brothers stood arm in arm around Eliza, and they all barely fit on the cliff. The waves hit him with force and splashed them. The sky was continuously illuminated with lightning, thunder rumbled every minute, but the sister and brothers, holding hands, found courage and consolation in each other.
At dawn it became clear and quiet again. As soon as the sun rose, the swans and Eliza flew on. The sea was still agitated, and from above one could see white foam floating on the dark green water like countless flocks of pigeons.
But then the sun rose higher, and Eliza saw in front of her, as it were, a mountainous country floating in the air with blocks of sparkling ice on the rocks, and right in the middle there was a castle, which stretched, probably for a whole mile, with some amazing galleries one above the other. Below him swayed palm groves and splendid flowers the size of mill wheels. Eliza asked if this was the country they were heading to, but the swans shook their heads: it was just the wonderful, ever-changing shape of Fata Morgana's cloudy castle.
Eliza kept looking and looking at him, and now the mountains, forests and the castle moved together and formed twenty stately churches with bell towers and lancet windows. It even seemed to her that she heard the sounds of an organ, but it was the sound of the sea. The churches were quite close when they suddenly turned into a whole flotilla of ships. Eliza peered closer and saw that it was just sea fog rising above the water. Yes, before her eyes there were ever-changing images and pictures!
But now the land appeared, to which they were heading. There were wonderful mountains with cedar forests, cities and castles. And already long before sunset, Eliza was sitting on a rock in front of a large cave, as if hung with embroidered green carpets, so she was overgrown with soft green climbing plants.
- Let's see what you dream here at night! - said the youngest of the brothers and showed his sister her bedroom.
- Ah, if only in a dream it were revealed to me how to remove the spell from you! - she answered, and this thought did not leave her head.
And then she dreamed that she was flying high, high through the air to the castle of Fata Morgana and the fairy herself comes out to meet her, so bright and beautiful, but at the same time surprisingly similar to the old woman who gave Eliza berries in the forest and told about swans in golden crowns.
“Your brothers can be saved,” she said. - But do you have enough courage and fortitude? The water is softer than your hands and still rolls over the stones, but it does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel. Water does not have a heart that would languish with anguish and fear, like yours. See, I have nettles in my hands? Such nettles grow here near the cave, and only it, and even the one that grows in cemeteries, can help you. Notice her! You will pick up these nettles, although your hands will blister from the burns. Then you knead it with your legs, you get fiber. From it you will weave eleven long-sleeved carapace shirts and throw them over the swans. Then the witchcraft will dissipate. But remember that from the minute you start work until you finish, even if it lasts for years, you should not say a word. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a deadly dagger. Their life and death will be in your hands. Remember all this! ”
And the fairy touched her hand with nettles. Eliza felt a burn-like pain and woke up. It was already daylight, and next to her lay nettles, exactly like the one she had seen in her dream. Eliza left the cave and set to work.
With her tender hands she tore up the angry, stinging nettle, and her hands were covered with blisters, but she happily endured the pain - if only to save the lovely brothers! With bare feet, she kneaded nettles and spun green threads.
But then the sun went down, the brothers returned, and how scared they were when they saw that their sister had become dumb! This is nothing less than the new witchcraft of the wicked stepmother, they decided. But the brothers looked at her hands and understood what she was up to to save them. The youngest of the brothers began to cry, and where his tears fell, the pain subsided, the burning blisters disappeared.
Eliza spent the whole night at work, because she did not have peace until she freed her lovely brothers. And all the next day, while the swans were away, she sat alone, but never before had time passed so quickly for her.
One carapace shirt was ready, and she began to work on another, when the hunting horns sounded in the mountains. Eliza was scared. And the sounds came nearer, the barking of dogs was heard. Eliza fled to the cave, tied up the nettles she had collected and sat on it.
Then I jumped out from behind the bushes big dogfollowed by another, third. The dogs barked loudly and ran back and forth at the cave entrance. In less than a few minutes, all the hunters gathered at the cave. The most beautiful among them was the king of that country. He approached Eliza - and when he had not yet met such a beauty.
- How did you get here, beautiful child? - he asked, but Eliza only shook her head in response, because she couldn't speak, the life and salvation of the brothers depended on it.
She hid her hands under her apron so that the king would not see what torment she had to endure.
- Come with me! - he said. - You don't belong here! If you are as kind as you are good, I will dress you in silk and velvet, put a golden crown on your head, and you will live in my magnificent palace!
And he put her on his horse. Eliza cried and wrung her hands, but the king said:
- I only want your happiness! Someday you will be grateful to me for this!
And he drove her through the mountains, and the hunters galloped after.
Towards evening, the magnificent capital of the king appeared, with temples and domes, and King Eliza brought him to his palace. Fountains gurgled in the tall marble rooms, and the walls and ceilings were painted with beautiful paintings. But Eliza did not look at anything, but only cried and yearned. As lifeless, she allowed the servants to put on royal clothes, weave pearls into her hair and pull thin gloves over her burnt fingers.
Dazzlingly beautiful she stood in luxurious decoration, and the whole court bowed low to her, and the king proclaimed her his bride, although the archbishop shook his head and whispered to the king that this forest beauty must be a witch, that she averted everyone's eyes and bewitched the king.
But the king did not listen to him, made a sign to the musicians, ordered to call the most charming dancers and serve expensive food, and he himself led Eliza through the fragrant gardens to luxurious chambers. But there was no smile on her lips or in her eyes, but only sadness, as if it had been written to her like that. But then the king opened the door to a small room next to her bedroom. The room was hung with expensive green carpets and resembled the cave where Eliza was found. A bundle of nettle fiber lay on the floor, and Eliza's carapace shirt hung from the ceiling. All this, like a curiosity, was taken from the forest by one of the hunters.
- Here you can remember your former home! Said the king. - Here is the work you did. Perhaps now, in your glory, the memories of the past will entertain you.
Eliza saw the work dear to her heart, and a smile played on her lips, blood rushed to her cheeks. She thought about saving the brothers and kissed the king's hand, and he pressed it to his heart.
The archbishop still whispered evil words to the king, but they did not reach the king's heart. The next day they got married. The archbishop himself had to put on the crown on the bride. Out of frustration, he pulled the narrow gold hoop so tightly over her forehead that it would hurt anyone. But another, heavier hoop squeezed her heart - sorrow for her brothers, and she did not notice the pain. Her lips were still closed - a single word could cost her brothers their lives - but her eyes shone with ardent love for the kind, handsome king who did everything to please her. Every day she grew more and more attached to him. Oh, if only you could trust him, tell him your torment! But she had to be silent, had to do her job in silence. That is why at night she would quietly leave the royal bedchamber to her secret cave-like room and weave there one carapace shirt after another. But when she started on the seventh, she ran out of fiber.
Finding the nettles she needed, she knew, could be in the cemetery, but she herself had to tear them up. How to be?
“Ah, what does the pain in my fingers mean compared to the anguish of my heart? Thought Eliza. - I have to make up my mind!
Her heart sank with fear, as if she were going on a foolish business when she made her way to the garden on a moonlit night, and from there along the long alleys and deserted streets to the cemetery. Ugly witches sat on wide gravestones and stared at her with evil eyes, but she picked up some nettles and returned back to the palace.
Only one person did not sleep that night and saw her - the archbishop. It just turned out that he was right, suspecting that the queen was not clean. And it really turned out that she was a witch, which is why she managed to bewitch the king and all the people.
In the morning he told the king what he saw and what he suspected. Two heavy tears rolled down the king's cheeks, and doubt crept into his heart. At night he pretended to be asleep, but sleep did not come to him, and the king noticed how Eliza got up and disappeared from the bedchamber. And so it was repeated every night, and every night he watched her and saw her disappear into her secret room.
Day by day the king grew gloomy and gloomy. Eliza saw this, but did not understand why, and she was afraid, and her heart ached for her brothers. Her bitter tears rolled down onto the royal velvet and purple. They glittered like diamonds, and people who saw her in magnificent clothes wanted to be in her place.
But soon, soon the end of the work! There was only one shirt missing, and then she again ran out of fiber. One more time - the last one - it was necessary to go to the cemetery and pick a few bunches of nettles. She thought with fear of the deserted cemetery and the terrible witches, ”but her resolve was unshakable.
And Eliza went, but the king and the archbishop followed her. They saw how she disappeared behind the cemetery gates, and when they approached the gates, they saw witches on the tombstones, and the king turned back.
- Let her people judge! - he said.
And the people awarded - to burn her at the stake.
From the luxurious royal chambers, Eliza was led into a gloomy, damp dungeon with a grate on the window, into which the wind blew with a whistle. Instead of velvet and silk, she was given a bundle of nettles she had collected from the cemetery under her head, and the hard, burning shirt-shells were to serve as her bed and blanket. But the best gift she didn't need to, and she went back to work. Street boys sang mocking songs to her outside the window, and not a single living soul found a word of comfort for her.
But towards evening, the sound of swan wings was heard at the grate - the younger of the brothers found her sister, and she wept with joy, although she knew that she had, perhaps, only one night left to live. But her work was almost finished and the brothers were here!
Eliza wove the last shirt all night. To help her at least a little, the mice running through the dungeon brought stalks of nettles to her feet, and a blackbird sat at the window grill and cheered her up all night with his cheerful song.
Dawn was just beginning, and the sun was supposed to appear only an hour later, and eleven brothers had already appeared at the gate of the palace and demanded that they be allowed to see the king. They were told that this was in no way possible: the king was asleep, and he could not be woken up. The brothers continued to ask, then they began to threaten, the guards appeared, and then the king himself went out to find out what was the matter. But then the sun rose, and the brothers disappeared, and eleven swans flew over the palace.
The people poured out into the city to see how the witch would be burned. A pitiful nag was dragging the cart in which Eliza sat. A coarse burlap robe was thrown over her. Her wonderful, wondrous hair fell over her shoulders, there was not a single blood in her face, her lips moved silently, and her fingers twisted green yarn. Even on the way to the place of execution, she did not let go of her work. Ten carapace shirts lay at her feet, the eleventh she was weaving. The crowd sneered at her.
- Look at the witch! Look, he mumbles his lips but still won't part with his witchcraft! Rip them out of her and tear them to shreds!
And the crowd rushed to her and was about to rip the nettles shirts, when suddenly eleven white swans flew in, sat around her at the edges of the cart and flapped their mighty wings. The crowd left.
- This is a sign from heaven! She is innocent! - many whispered, but did not dare to say it aloud.
The executioner had already grabbed Eliza by the arm, but she quickly threw nettles shirts on the swans, and they all turned into handsome princes, only the youngest had a wing instead of one arm: before Eliza had time to finish the last shirt, one sleeve was missing.
- Now I can speak! - she said. - I'm innocent!
And the people, who saw everything, bowed before her, and she fell senseless into the arms of her brothers, so she was exhausted by fear and pain.
- Yes, she is innocent! - said the eldest of the brothers and told everything how it was, and as he spoke, a scent spread in the air, as if from a million roses, - each log in the fire took root and branches, and now at the site of the fire there was a fragrant bush, all in scarlet roses... And at the very top, a dazzling white flower shone like a star. The king tore it off and put it on Eliza's chest, and she woke up, and in her heart there was peace and happiness.
Then all the bells in the city rang by themselves, and countless flocks of birds flew in, and such a joyful procession was drawn to the palace, such as no king had ever seen!

Far, far away, in the country where swallows fly away from us for the winter, there lived a king. He had eleven sons and one daughter, Eliza.

Eleven brother princes were already attending school; each had a star on his chest, and a saber thundered at the side; they wrote on gold boards with diamond leads and knew how to read perfectly, even from a book, even by heart - all the same. You could immediately hear what real princes are reading! Their sister Eliza sat on a bench made of mirrored glass and looked at a picture book, for which half the kingdom had been paid.

Yes, the children lived well, but not for long!

Their father, the king of that country, married an evil queen who disliked poor children. They had to experience this on the very first day: there was fun in the palace, and the children started a game to visit, but the stepmother, instead of various cakes and baked apples, which they always got plenty, gave them a teacup of sand and said that they could imagine, like it's a treat.

A week later, she gave her sister Eliza to be raised in the village to some peasants, and a little more time passed, and she managed to tell the king so much about the poor princes that he did not want to see them anymore.

Fly to all four directions! said the evil queen. - Fly as big birds without a voice and trade for yourself!

But she could not do them as much harm as she would have liked - they turned into eleven beautiful wild swans, with a cry flew out of the palace windows and rushed over parks and forests.

It was early morning when they flew past the hut, where their sister Eliza was still fast asleep. They began to fly over the roof, stretched out their flexible necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard or saw them; so they had to fly away with nothing. They soared high, high to the very clouds and flew into a large dark forest that stretched to the sea.

Poor Eliza stood in peasant hut and played with a green leaf - she had no other toys; she pierced a hole in the sheet, looked through it at the sun, and it seemed to her that she was seeing the clear eyes of her brothers; when the warm rays of the sun slid down her cheek, she recalled their tender kisses.

Days went by, one like the other. Did the wind flutter the rose bushes that grew near the house and whisper to the roses: "Is there anyone more beautiful than you?" - the roses shook their heads and said: "Eliza is more beautiful." Was any old woman sitting at the door of her house on Sunday, reading the Psalter, and the wind was turning the sheets, saying to the book: "Is there anyone more devout than you?" the book answered: "Eliza is more devout!" And the roses and the psalter spoke the truth.

But Eliza was fifteen years old, and she was sent home. Seeing how pretty she was, the queen became angry and hated her stepdaughter. She would gladly turn her into a wild swan, but it was impossible to do this now, because the king wanted to see his daughter.

And so early in the morning the queen went to the marble bath, all decorated with wonderful carpets and soft pillows, took three toads, kissed each of them and said to the first:

Sit on Eliza's head when she enters the bath; let her become as dumb and lazy as you! And you sit on her forehead! she said to another. - Let Eliza be as ugly as you, and her father will not recognize her! You lay on her heart! the queen whispered to the third toad. - Let her become malevolent and suffer from it!

Then she lowered the toads into the clear water, and the water immediately turned green. Calling Eliza, the queen undressed her and told her to enter the water. Eliza obeyed, and one toad sat on her crown, another on her forehead, and a third on her chest; but Eliza did not even notice this, and as soon as she got out of the water three red poppies floated on the water. If the toads had not been poisoned by the kiss of the witch, they would have turned, lying on Eliza's head and heart, into red roses; the girl was so devout and innocent that witchcraft had no effect on her.

Seeing this, the evil queen rubbed Eliza with walnut juice, so that she turned completely brown, smeared her face with a smelly ointment and tangled her lovely hair. It was now impossible to recognize pretty Eliza. Even her father got scared and said that this was not his daughter. No one recognized her, except for a chain dog and swallows, but who would listen to the poor creatures!

Eliza cried and thought about her brothers who had been kicked out, secretly left the palace and wandered through the fields and swamps all day, making her way to the forest. Eliza herself did not really know where she should go, but she was so yearning for her brothers, who were also expelled from homethat she decided to look for them everywhere until she found them.

She did not stay long in the forest, when night had already fallen, and Eliza had completely lost her way; then she lay down on the soft moss, recited a prayer for the coming sleep and bent her head on the stump. There was silence in the forest, the air was so warm, hundreds of fireflies flashed in the grass like green lights, and when Eliza touched a bush with her hand, they fell into the grass like a star rain.

All night Eliza dreamed of brothers: they were all children again, played together, wrote with pencils on gold boards and looked at the most wonderful picture book that cost half a kingdom. But they did not write dashes and zeros on the blackboards, as they used to do before - no, they described everything that they saw and experienced. All the pictures in the book were alive: the birds sang, and people left the pages and talked with Eliza and her brothers; but as soon as she wanted to turn the sheet over, they jumped back, otherwise there would be confusion in the pictures.

When Eliza woke up, the sun was already high; she could not even have a good look at it behind the dense foliage of trees, but its separate rays made their way between the branches and ran like golden bunnies on the grass; there was a wonderful smell from the greenery, and the birds almost sat on Eliza's shoulders. The murmur of a source was heard not far off; it turned out that several large streams ran here, flowing into a pond with a wonderful sandy bottom. The pond was surrounded by a hedge, but in one place the wild deer broke a wide passage for themselves, and Eliza could go down to the water itself. The water in the pond was clear and clear; the wind did not stir the branches of trees and bushes, one would think that both trees and bushes were drawn on the bottom, so clearly they were reflected in the mirror of the waters.

Seeing her face in the water, Eliza was completely frightened, it was so black and disgusting; and so she scooped up a handful of water, rubbed her eyes and forehead, and her white tender skin shone again. Then Eliza undressed completely and entered the cool water. It was all over the world to look for such a pretty princess!

After dressing and braiding her long hair, she went to the bubbling spring, drank water straight from a handful and then walked on through the forest, not knowing where. She thought of her brothers and hoped that God would not leave her: he had commanded the wild apples to grow in order to feed the hungry; he also pointed out to her one of these apple trees, the branches of which bent from the weight of the fruit. After satisfying her hunger, Eliza propped up the branches with chopsticks and went deep into the thicket of the forest. There was such silence that Eliza heard her own footsteps, heard the rustling of every dry leaf that came under her feet. Not a single bird flew into this wilderness, not a single ray of sunlight slipped through the continuous thicket of branches. The tall trunks stood in dense rows like walls of logs; Eliza had never felt so alone.

It got even darker at night; not a single firefly glowed in the moss. Eliza lay down sadly on the grass, and suddenly it seemed to her that the branches above her parted, and God himself looked at her with kind eyes; little angels peeked out from behind his head and from under his arms.

Waking up in the morning, she herself did not know whether it was in a dream or in reality. Moving on, Eliza met an old woman with a basket of berries; the old woman gave the girl a handful of berries, and Eliza asked her if eleven princes had passed through the forest here.

No, - said the old woman, - but yesterday I saw eleven swans in golden crowns here on the river.

And the old woman took Eliza to the cliff, under which the river flowed. Trees grew on both sides, stretching out their long, densely leafed branches towards each other. Those of the trees that could not weave their branches with the branches of their brothers on the opposite bank were so stretched out above the water that their roots crawled out of the ground, and they still got their way.

Eliza said goodbye to the old woman and went to the mouth of the river that fell into the open sea.

And so a wonderful endless sea opened up in front of the young girl, but in all its expanse not a single sail was visible, there was not a single boat on which she could set off on a further journey. Eliza looked at the countless boulders washed ashore by the sea - the water polished them so that they were completely smooth and round. All other objects thrown out by the sea - glass, iron and stones - also bore traces of this grinding, but meanwhile the water was softer than Eliza's gentle hands, and the girl thought: “Waves roll relentlessly one after another and finally grind the hardest objects. I will also work tirelessly! Thank you for the science, light fast waves! My heart tells me that someday you will take me to my dear brothers! "

On the dry seaweed thrown out by the sea lay eleven white swan feathers; Eliza gathered and tied them into a bun; drops still glistened on the feathers - dew or tears, who knows? It was deserted on the shore, but Eliza did not feel it: the sea was an eternal variety; in a few hours one could see more here than in a whole year somewhere on the shores of fresh inland lakes. If a big black cloud was approaching the sky and the wind was getting stronger, the sea seemed to say: "I can turn black too!" - began to seethe, worried and covered with white lambs. If the clouds were pinkish and the wind was asleep, the sea looked like a rose petal; sometimes it turned green, sometimes white; but no matter how quiet the air was and no matter how calm the sea itself was, there was always a slight excitement near the shore - the water rose quietly, like the chest of a sleeping child.

When the sun was close to sunset, Eliza saw a line of wild swans in golden crowns flying towards the shore; all the swans were eleven, and they flew one after another, stretching out in a long white ribbon, Eliza climbed up and hid behind a bush. The swans came down not far from her and flapped their large white wings.

At the same moment as the sun disappeared under the water, the plumage from the swans suddenly fell off, and eleven handsome princes, the Elisin brothers, appeared on the ground! Eliza screamed loudly; she recognized them at once, despite the fact that they had changed a lot; her heart told her that it was them! She threw herself into their arms, called them all by their first names, and they were somehow delighted to see and recognize their sister, who had grown up and prettier. Eliza and her brothers laughed and cried and soon learned from each other how badly their stepmother had done to them.

We, brothers, said the oldest, fly in the form of wild swans all day, from sunrise to sunset; when the sun goes down, we again take on a human form. Therefore, by the time the sun sets, we must always have solid ground under our feet: if we were to turn into humans during our flight under the clouds, we would immediately fall from such a terrible height. We do not live here; far, far beyond the sea lies the same wonderful country like this, but the road there is long, we have to fly over the whole sea, and along the way there is not a single island where we could spend the night. Only in the very middle of the sea a small lonely cliff sticks out, on which we somehow can rest, huddled closely to each other.

If the sea is raging, splashes of water even fly over our heads, but we thank God for such a refuge: if it were not for him, we would not have been able to visit our sweet homeland at all - and now for this flight we have to choose the two longest days in year.

Only once a year are we allowed to fly home; we can stay here for eleven days and fly over this large forest, from where we can see the palace where we were born and where our father lives, and the bell tower of the church where our mother rests. Here even the bushes and trees seem to us dear; here wild horses, which we saw in our childhood days, are still running on the plains, and coal miners still sing the songs to which we danced as children. Here is our homeland, here pulls us with all our hearts, and here we found you, dear, dear sister! We can stay here for two more days, and then we must fly overseas to a foreign country! How can we take you with us? We have no ship or boat!

How can I free you from the spell? the sister asked the brothers.

They talked like that for most of the night and dozed off only for a few hours.

Eliza was awakened by the sound of swan wings. The brothers again became birds and flew in large circles in the air, and then completely disappeared from sight. Only the youngest of the brothers remained with Eliza; the swan laid his head in her lap, and she stroked and fingered his feathers. They spent the whole day together, in the evening the rest flew in, and when the sun went down, everyone again took on a human form.

Tomorrow we have to leave here and we will not be able to return until next year, but we will not leave you here! - said the younger brother. - Do you have the courage to fly away with us? My arms are strong enough to carry you through the forest - can't we all be able to carry you on our wings across the sea?

Yes, take me with you! - said Eliza.

They spent the whole night behind a netting of flexible vines and reeds; the mesh came out large and strong; Eliza was put into it. Turning into swans at sunrise, the brothers grabbed the net with their beaks and soared up with their sweet sister, who was sleeping soundly asleep, to the clouds. The sun's rays were shining directly into her face, so one of the swans flew over her head, protecting her from the sun with his wide wings.

They were already far from the ground when Eliza woke up, and it seemed to her that she was dreaming in reality, it was so strange for her to fly through the air. Near her lay a branch with wonderful ripe berries and a bunch of delicious roots; the youngest of the brothers picked them up and put them to her, and she smiled gratefully at him - she guessed that he was flying over her and protecting her from the sun with his wings.

They flew high, high, so that the first ship they saw at sea seemed to them a seagull floating on the water. There was a big cloud in the sky behind them - a real mountain! - and on it Eliza saw the moving gigantic shadows of eleven swans and her own. There was a picture! She had never seen one like her before! But as the sun rose higher and the cloud remained further and further behind, the air shadows gradually disappeared.

The swans flew all day like an arrow fired from a bow, but still more slowly than usual; now they were carrying a sister. The day began to lean towards evening, bad weather arose; Eliza watched with fear as the sun went down, the lonely cliff of the sea still to be seen. Now it seemed to her that the swans were somehow intensely flapping their wings. Ah, it was she who was to blame for the fact that they could not fly faster! The sun will go down - they will become people, fall into the sea and drown! And she began to pray to God with all her heart, but the cliff still did not appear. A black cloud was approaching, strong gusts of wind foreshadowed a storm, the clouds gathered in a solid formidable lead wave rolling across the sky; lightning flashed after lightning.

One edge of the sun almost touched the water; Eliza's heart fluttered; the swans suddenly flew down with incredible speed, and the girl already thought that they were all falling; but no, they continued to fly again. The sun was half under the water, and only then did Eliza see a cliff beneath her, no larger than a seal sticking its head out of the water. The sun was rapidly dying out; now it seemed only a small, shiny star; but then the swans stepped foot on solid ground, and the sun went out like the last spark of burnt paper. Eliza saw the brothers around her, standing hand in hand; they all barely fit on the tiny cliff. The sea beat furiously against him and showered them with a whole rain of spray; the sky was blazing with lightning, and thunder rumbled every minute, but the sister and brothers held hands and sang a psalm that infused comfort and courage into their hearts.

At dawn the storm subsided, it became clear and quiet again; as the sun rose, the swans and Eliza flew further. The sea was still agitated, and they saw from above how white foam was floating on the dark green water like countless flocks of swans.

As the sun rose higher, Eliza saw in front of her a mountainous country floating in the air with masses shiny ice on the rocks; between the rocks a huge castle towered, entwined with some bold aerial galleries of columns; below him swayed palm forests and splendid flowers, the size of mill wheels. Eliza asked if this was the country where they were flying, but the swans shook their heads: she saw before her the wonderful, ever-changing cloudy castle of Fata Morgana; they did not dare to bring a single human soul.

Eliza again turned her gaze on the castle, and now the mountains, forests and the castle moved together, and from them twenty identical majestic churches with bell towers and lancet windows were formed. It even seemed to her that she heard the sounds of an organ, but it was the sound of the sea. Now the churches were very close, but suddenly they turned into a whole flotilla of ships; Eliza peered closer and saw that it was just a sea fog rising above the water. Yes, before her eyes there were ever changing airy images and pictures! But then, finally, it appeared and real earthwhere they flew. There were wonderful mountains, cedar forests, cities and castles.

Long before sunset, Eliza sat on a rock in front of a large cave, as if hung with embroidered green carpets - so she was overgrown with soft green creepers.

Let's see what you dream here at night! - said the youngest of the brothers and showed his sister her bedroom.

Oh, if I dreamed of how to free you from the spell! she said, and the thought never left her mind.

Eliza began to pray fervently to God and continued her prayer even in her sleep. And now she dreamed that she was flying high, high through the air to the castle of Fata Morgana and that the fairy herself came out to meet her, so bright and beautiful, but at the same time surprisingly similar to the old woman who gave Eliza berries in the forest and told about swans in golden crowns.

Your brothers can be saved, ”she said. - But do you have enough courage and fortitude? The water is softer than your gentle hands and still grinds stones, but it does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel; the water does not have a heart that would languish with fear and anguish, like yours. See, I have nettles in my hands? Such nettles grow here near the cave, and only it, and even the nettle that grows in cemeteries, can be useful to you; notice her! You will pick up this nettle, although your hands will be blistered from the burns; then you knead it with your legs, twist long threads from the resulting fiber, then weave eleven long-sleeved carapace shirts out of them and throw them over the swans; then witchcraft will disappear.

But remember that from the minute you start your work, and until you finish it, even if it lasted for whole years, you should not say a word. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a dagger. Their life and death will be in your hands! Remember all this!

And the fairy touched her hand with stinging nettles; Eliza felt a burn-like pain and woke up. It was already a bright day, and next to her lay a bunch of nettles, exactly the same as the one she now saw in her dream. Then she fell to her knees, thanked God and left the cave to get to work at once.

With her tender hands she tore up the angry, stinging nettle, and her hands were covered with large blisters, but she happily endured the pain: if only she could save her lovely brothers! Then she kneaded the nettles with her bare feet and began to twist the green fiber.

As the sun went down, the brothers appeared and were very frightened, seeing that she had become dumb. They thought it was their evil stepmother's new witchcraft, but. Looking at her hands, they realized that she had become dumb for their salvation. The youngest of the brothers began to cry; his tears fell on her hands, and where the tear fell, the burning blisters disappeared, the pain subsided.

Eliza spent the night at her work; rest did not come to her mind; she thought only of how to free her dear brothers as soon as possible. The next day, while the swans flew, she was alone, but never before had time flown for her so quickly. One carapace shirt was ready, and she set to work on the next.

Suddenly the sounds of hunting horns were heard in the mountains; Eliza was frightened; the sounds came closer, then the barking of dogs was heard. The girl disappeared into a cave, tied all the nettles she collected into a bunch and sat on it.

At the same moment a large dog jumped out from behind the bushes, followed by another and a third; they barked loudly and ran back and forth. In a few minutes all the hunters gathered at the cave; the most handsome of them was the king of that country; he approached Eliza - he had never met such a beauty!

How did you get here, lovely child? he asked, but Eliza only shook her head; she did not dare to speak: the life and salvation of her brothers depended on her silence. Eliza hid her hands under her apron so that the king would not see how she was suffering.

Come with me! - he said. - You can't stay here! If you are as good as you are, I will dress you in silk and velvet, put a golden crown on your head, and you will live in my magnificent palace! - And he put her on the saddle in front of him; Eliza cried and wrung her hands, but the king said: “I only want your happiness. Someday you yourself will thank me!

And he took her through the mountains, and the hunters galloped after.

Towards evening, the magnificent capital of the king, with churches and domes, appeared, and the king brought Eliza to his palace, where fountains murmured in the high marble chambers, and the walls and ceilings were decorated with paintings. But Eliza looked at nothing, cried and yearned; She indifferently gave herself over to the servants, who put on royal robes, woven pearl threads into her hair, and pulled thin gloves over her burnt fingers.

The rich attire went so well to her, she was so dazzlingly good in them that the whole court bowed before her, and the king proclaimed her his bride, although the archbishop shook his head, whispering to the king that the forest beauty must be a witch that she took away them all eyes and bewitched the heart of the king.

The king, however, did not listen to him, gave a sign to the musicians, ordered the most charming dancers to be summoned and expensive dishes to be served on the table, and he himself led Eliza through the fragrant gardens to magnificent chambers, she remained as before sad and sad. But then the king opened the door to a small room located just next to her bedroom. The whole room was hung with green carpets and resembled the forest cave where Eliza was found; a bundle of nettle fiber lay on the floor, and Eliza's carapace shirt, woven by Eliza, hung from the ceiling; all this, like a curiosity, was taken from the forest by one of the hunters.

Here you can remember your former home! said the king.

Here is your work; maybe you sometimes wish to have fun among all the splendor surrounding you with memories of the past!

Seeing the work dear to her heart, Eliza smiled and blushed; she thought about saving the brothers and kissed the king's hand, and he pressed it to his heart and ordered to ring the bells on the occasion of his wedding. The dumb forest beauty became queen.

The archbishop continued to whisper evil speeches to the king, but they did not reach the king's heart, and the wedding took place. The archbishop himself had to put on the crown on the bride; out of annoyance, he pulled a narrow gold hoop so tightly over her forehead that it would hurt everyone, but she did not even pay attention to it: what did bodily pain mean to her if her heart was languishing with longing and pity for her dear brothers! Her lips were still compressed, not a single word flew out of them - she knew that the life of her brothers depended on her silence - but her eyes shone with ardent love for the kind, handsome king, who did everything to please her.

Every day she became more and more attached to him. ABOUT! If she could confide in him, express her suffering to him, but - alas! - she had to be silent until she finished her work. At night, she quietly left the royal bedroom in her secret room, like a cave, and there weaved one shirt-armor after another, but when she began to work on the seventh, all the fiber came out.

She knew that she could find such nettles in the cemetery, but she had to pluck them herself; How to be?

“Oh, what does bodily pain mean in comparison with the sadness that torments my heart! thought Eliza. - I have to make up my mind! The Lord will not leave me! "

Her heart sank with fear, as though she were going to a bad deed when she made her way into the garden on a moonlit night, and from there along the long alleys and deserted streets to the cemetery. Disgusting witches sat on wide gravestones; they threw off their rags, as if they were going to swim, tore open fresh graves with their bony fingers, pulled out the bodies and devoured them. Eliza had to walk past them, and they stared at her with their evil eyes - but she made a prayer, picked up some nettles and returned home.

Only one person did not sleep that night and saw her - the archbishop; now he was convinced that he was right in suspecting the queen, so she was a witch and therefore managed to bewitch the king and all the people.

When the king came to his confessional, the archbishop told him what he had seen and what he suspected; evil words fell from his tongue, and the carved images of the saints shook their heads, as if they wanted to say: "Not true, Eliza is innocent!" But the archbishop reinterpreted this in his own way, saying that the saints also testify against her, shaking their heads in disapproval. Two large tears rolled down the king's cheeks, doubt and despair seized his heart. At night he only pretended to be asleep, in reality the dream escaped him. And then he saw that Eliza got up and disappeared from the bedroom; on the following nights the same thing happened; he watched her and saw her disappear into her secret room.

The king's brow grew darker and darker; Eliza noticed this, but did not understand the reason; her heart ached with fear and pity for her brothers; bitter tears, glistening like diamonds, were rolling down the royal purple, and people who saw her rich attire wanted to be in the queen's place! But soon, soon the end of her work; there was only one shirt missing, and with her eyes and signs she asked him to leave; that night she had to finish her work, otherwise all her suffering, and her tears, and sleepless nights would have been lost for nothing! The archbishop left, scolding her with swear words, but poor Eliza knew that she was innocent and continued to work.

To help her at least a little, the mice scampering on the floor began to collect and bring scattered stalks of nettles to her feet, and the thrush, sitting behind the lattice window, consoled her with his merry song.

At dawn, shortly before sunrise, the eleven brothers of Eliza appeared at the palace gates and demanded to be admitted to the king. They were told that this was absolutely impossible: the king was still asleep and no one dared to disturb him. They kept asking, then they began to threaten; the guards appeared, and then the king himself went out to find out what was the matter. But at that moment the sun rose, and there were no more brothers - eleven wild swans soared over the palace.

The people flocked out of town to see how they would burn the witch. A pitiful nag was carrying the cart in which Eliza was sitting; a coarse burlap cloak was thrown over her; her wonderful long hair was flowing down her shoulders, there was not a blood in her face, her lips moved softly, whispering prayers, and her fingers were spinning green yarn. Even on the way to the place of execution, she did not let go of the work she had begun; ten shirts-shells lay at her feet quite ready, the eleventh she was weaving. The crowd sneered at her.

Look at the witch! Look, mumbles! Probably not a prayer book in her hands - no, everything is fiddling with its witchcraft! Let's rip them out from her and tear them to shreds.

And they were crowding around her, intending to snatch the work from her hands, when suddenly eleven white swans flew in, sat down at the edges of the cart and noisily flapped their mighty wings. The frightened crowd retreated.

This is a sign from heaven! She is innocent, - many whispered, but did not dare say it out loud.

The executioner grabbed Eliza's hand, but she hastily threw eleven shirts on the swans, and ... eleven handsome princes stood in front of her, only the youngest one was missing one hand, instead of her there was a swan wing: Eliza did not have time to finish the last shirt, and she was missing one sleeve.

Now I can speak! - she said. - I'm innocent!

And the people, who saw everything that happened, bowed before her as before a saint, but she fell senseless into the arms of her brothers - this is how the relentless exertion of strength, fear and pain affected her.

Yes, she is innocent! - said the oldest brother and told everything as it happened; and as he spoke, a fragrance spread in the air, as if from a multitude of roses - each log in the fire took root and shoots, and a tall fragrant bush was formed, covered with red roses. At the very top of the bush, a dazzling white flower shone like a star. The king tore it off, put it on Eliza's chest, and she came to herself with joy and happiness!

All the church bells rang by themselves, birds flew in flocks, and such a wedding procession was drawn to the palace, which no king had ever seen!

Fairy tale Wild Swans read:

Far, far away, in the country where swallows fly away from us for the winter, there lived a king. He had eleven sons and one daughter, Eliza.

Eleven brother princes were already attending school; each had a star on his chest, and a saber thundered at the side; they wrote on gold boards with diamond leads and knew how to read perfectly, even from a book, even by heart - all the same. You could immediately hear what real princes are reading! Their sister Eliza sat on a bench made of mirrored glass and looked at a picture book, for which half the kingdom had been paid.

Yes, the children lived well, but not for long!

Their father, the king of that country, married an evil queen who disliked poor children. They had to experience this on the very first day: there was fun in the palace, and the children started a game to visit, but the stepmother, instead of various cakes and baked apples, which they always got in plenty, gave them a teacup of sand and said that they could imagine, like it's a treat.

A week later, she gave her sister Eliza to be raised in the village to some peasants, and a little more time passed, and she managed to tell the king so much about the poor princes that he did not want to see them anymore.

- Fly to pick up, hello on all four sides! Said the evil queen. - Fly as big birds without a voice and hunt for yourself!

But she could not do them as much harm as she would have liked - they turned into eleven beautiful wild swans, with a cry flew out of the palace windows and rushed over parks and forests.

It was early morning when they flew past the hut, where their sister Eliza was still deeply asleep. They began to fly over the roof, stretched out their flexible necks and flapped their wings, but no one heard or saw them; so they had to fly away with nothing. They soared high, high to the very clouds and flew into a large dark forestthat stretched to the sea.

Poor Eliza stood in a peasant hut and played with a green leaf - she had no other toys; she pierced a hole in the sheet, looked through it at the sun, and it seemed to her that she saw the clear eyes of her brothers; when the warm rays of the sun glided down her cheek, she recalled their tender kisses.

Days went by, one like the other. Did the wind flutter the rose bushes that grew near the house and whisper to the roses: "Is there anyone more beautiful than you?" - the roses shook their heads and said: "Eliza is more beautiful." Was any old woman sitting at the door of her house on Sunday, reading the Psalter, and the wind was turning the sheets, saying to the book: "Is there anyone more devout than you?" the book answered: "Eliza is more devout!" And the roses and the psalter spoke the truth.

But Eliza was fifteen years old, and she was sent home. Seeing how pretty she was, the queen became angry and hated her stepdaughter. She would gladly turn her into a wild swan, but it was impossible to do this now, because the king wanted to see his daughter.

And so early in the morning, the queen went to the marble bath, all decorated with wonderful carpets and soft pillows, took three toads, kissed each one and said to the first:

- Sit on Eliza's head when she enters the bath; let her become as dumb and lazy as you! And you sit on her forehead! She said to another. - Let Eliza be as ugly as you, and her father will not recognize her! You lay on her heart! The queen whispered to the third toad. - Let her become malevolent and suffer from it!

Then she lowered the toads into the clear water, and the water immediately turned green. Calling Eliza, the queen undressed her and ordered her to enter the water. Eliza obeyed, and one toad sat on her crown, another on her forehead, and a third on her chest; but Eliza did not even notice this, and as soon as she got out of the water three red poppies floated on the water.

If the toads had not been poisoned by the kiss of the witch, they would have turned, lying on Eliza's head and heart, into red roses; the girl was so devout and innocent that witchcraft could not affect her in any way.

Seeing this, the evil queen rubbed Eliza with walnut juice, so that she turned completely brown, smeared her face with a smelly ointment and tangled her wonderful hair. It was now impossible to recognize pretty Eliza. Even her father got scared and said that this was not his daughter. No one recognized her, except a chain dog and swallows, but who would listen to the poor creatures!

Eliza cried and thought about her brothers who had been kicked out, secretly left the palace and wandered through the fields and swamps all day, making her way to the forest. Eliza herself did not really know where she should go, but she was so yearning for her brothers, who were also expelled from their home, that she decided to look for them everywhere until she found them.

She did not stay long in the forest, when night had already fallen, and Eliza had completely lost her way; then she lay down on the soft moss, recited a prayer for the coming sleep and bent her head on the stump. There was silence in the forest, the air was so warm, hundreds of fireflies flashed in the grass like green lights, and when Eliza touched a bush with her hand, they fell into the grass like a star rain.

All night Eliza dreamed of brothers: they were all children again, played together, wrote with pencils on gold boards and looked at the most wonderful picture book that cost half a kingdom. But they didn’t write dashes and zeros on the blackboards, as it happened before - no, they described everything that they saw and experienced. All the pictures in the book were alive: the birds were singing, and people left the pages and talked with Eliza and her brothers; but as soon as she wanted to turn the sheet over, they jumped back, otherwise there would be confusion in the pictures.

When Eliza woke up, the sun was already high; she could not even have a good look at it behind the dense foliage of trees, but its separate rays made their way between the branches and ran like golden bunnies on the grass; there was a wonderful smell from the greenery, and the birds almost sat on Eliza's shoulders. The murmur of a source was heard not far off; it turned out that several large streams ran here, flowing into a pond with a wonderful sandy bottom. The pond was surrounded by a hedge, but in one place the wild deer broke a wide passage for themselves, and Eliza could go down to the water itself. The water in the pond was clear and clear; the wind did not stir the branches of trees and bushes, one would think that both trees and bushes were drawn on the bottom, so clearly they were reflected in the mirror of the waters.

Seeing her face in the water, Eliza was completely frightened, it was so black and disgusting; and so she scooped up a handful of water, rubbed her eyes and forehead, and her white tender skin shone again. Then Eliza undressed completely and entered the cool water. It was all over the world to look for such a pretty princess!

After dressing and braiding her long hair, she went to the bubbling spring, drank water straight from a handful and then walked on through the forest, not knowing where. She thought of her brothers and hoped that God would not abandon her: it was he who commanded the growing wild apples of the forest to feed the hungry; he also pointed out to her one of these apple trees, the branches of which bent from the weight of the fruit. After satisfying her hunger, Eliza propped up the branches with chopsticks and went deep into the thicket of the forest. There was such silence that Eliza heard her own footsteps, heard the rustling of every dry leaf that came under her feet. Not a single bird flew into this wilderness, not a single ray of sunlight slipped through the continuous thicket of branches. The tall trunks stood in dense rows like walls of logs; Eliza had never felt so alone.

It got even darker at night; not a single firefly glowed in the moss. Eliza lay down sadly on the grass, and suddenly it seemed to her that the branches above her parted, and God himself looked at her with kind eyes; little angels peeked out from behind his head and from under his arms.

Waking up in the morning, she herself did not know whether it was in a dream or in reality.

“No,” said the old woman, “but yesterday I saw eleven swans in golden crowns here on the river.

And the old woman took Eliza to the cliff, under which the river flowed. Trees grew on both sides, stretching out their long, densely leafed branches towards each other. Those of the trees that could not weave their branches with the branches of their brothers on the opposite bank were so stretched out above the water that their roots crawled out of the ground, and they still got their way.

Eliza said goodbye to the old woman and went to the mouth of the river that fell into the open sea.

And so a wonderful endless sea opened up in front of the young girl, but in its entire expanse not a single sail was visible, there was not a single boat on which she could set off on a further journey. Eliza looked at the countless boulders washed ashore by the sea - the water polished them so that they were completely smooth and round. All other objects thrown out by the sea - glass, iron and stones - also bore traces of this grinding, and meanwhile the water was softer than Eliza's gentle hands, and the girl thought: “Waves roll relentlessly one after another and finally grind the hardest objects. I will also work tirelessly! Thank you for the science, light fast waves! My heart tells me that someday you will take me to my dear brothers! "

On the dry seaweed thrown out by the sea lay eleven white swan feathers; Eliza gathered and tied them into a bun; drops still glistened on the feathers - dew or tears, who knows? It was deserted on the shore, but Eliza did not feel it: the sea was an eternal variety; in a few hours one could see more here than in a whole year somewhere on the shores of fresh inland lakes. If a big black cloud was approaching the sky and the wind grew stronger, the sea seemed to say: "I can turn black too!" - began to seethe, worry and covered with white lambs. If the clouds were pinkish and the wind was asleep, the sea looked like a rose petal; sometimes it turned green, sometimes white; but no matter how still the air stood and no matter how calm the sea itself was, a slight excitement was always noticeable near the coast - the water rose quietly, like the breast of a sleeping child.

When the sun was close to sunset, Eliza saw a line of wild swans in golden crowns flying towards the shore; all the swans were eleven, and they flew one after another, stretching out in a long white ribbon, Eliza climbed up and hid behind a bush. The swans came down close to her and flapped their large white wings.

At the same moment as the sun disappeared under the water, the plumage from the swans suddenly fell off, and eleven handsome princes, the Elisin brothers, appeared on the ground! Eliza screamed loudly; she recognized them at once, despite the fact that they had changed a lot; her heart told her that it was them! She threw herself into their arms, called them all by their first names, and they were somehow delighted to see and recognize their sister, who had grown up and prettier. Eliza and her brothers laughed and cried and soon learned from each other how badly their stepmother had done to them.

“We, brothers,” said the eldest, “fly in the form of wild swans all day, from sunrise to sunset; when the sun goes down, we again take on a human form. Therefore, by the time the sun sets, we must always have solid ground under our feet: if we happened to turn into humans during our flight under the clouds, we would immediately fall from such a terrible height. We do not live here; far, far beyond the sea lies the same wonderful country like this, but the road there is long, we have to fly over the whole sea, and along the way there is not a single island where we could spend the night. Only in the very middle of the sea there is a small lonely cliff, on which we somehow can rest, huddled closely to each other. If the sea is raging, splashes of water even fly over our heads, but we thank God for such a refuge: if it were not for him, we would not have been able to visit our dear homeland at all - and now for this flight we have to choose two longest days in year. Only once a year are we allowed to fly home; we can stay here for eleven days and fly over this large forest, from where we can see the palace where we were born and where our father lives, and the bell tower of the church where our mother rests. Here even the bushes and trees seem to us dear; here wild horses, which we saw in our childhood days, are still running on the plains, and coal miners still sing the songs to which we danced as children. Here is our homeland, here pulls us with all our hearts, and here we found you, dear, dear sister! We can stay here for two more days, and then we must fly overseas to a foreign country! How can we take you with us? We have no ship or boat!

- How can I free you from the spell? The sister asked the brothers.

They talked like that for most of the night and dozed off only for a few hours.

Eliza was awakened by the sound of swan wings. The brothers again became birds and flew in large circles in the air, and then completely disappeared from sight. Only the youngest of the brothers remained with Eliza; the swan laid his head in her lap, and she stroked and fingered his feathers.

They spent the whole day together, in the evening the rest flew in, and when the sun went down, everyone again took on a human form.

- Tomorrow we have to fly away from here and we will not be able to return until next year, but we will not leave you here! - said the younger brother. - Do you have the courage to fly away with us? My arms are strong enough to carry you through the forest - can't we all be able to carry you on our wings across the sea?

- Yes, take me with you! - said Eliza.

They spent the whole night behind a netting of flexible vines and reeds; the mesh came out large and strong; Eliza was put in it. Turning into swans at sunrise, the brothers grabbed the net with their beaks and soared up with their sweet sister, who was sleeping soundly asleep, to the clouds. The sun's rays were shining directly into her face, so one of the swans flew over her head, protecting her from the sun with his wide wings.

They were already far from the ground when Eliza woke up, and it seemed to her that she was dreaming in reality, it was so strange for her to fly through the air. Near her lay a branch with wonderful ripe berries and a bunch of delicious roots; the youngest of the brothers picked them up and put them to her, and she smiled gratefully at him - she guessed that he was flying over her and protecting her from the sun with his wings.

They flew high, high, so that the first ship they saw at sea seemed to them a seagull floating on the water. There was a big cloud in the sky behind them - a real mountain! - and on it Eliza saw the moving gigantic shadows of eleven swans and her own. There was a picture! She has never seen one like this! But as the sun rose higher and the cloud remained further and further behind, the air shadows gradually disappeared.

All day the swans flew like an arrow fired from a bow, but still more slowly than usual; now they were carrying a sister. The day began to lean towards evening, bad weather arose; Eliza watched with fear as the sun went down, the lonely cliff of the sea still not visible. Now it seemed to her that the swans were somehow intensely flapping their wings. Ah, it was she who was to blame for the fact that they could not fly faster! The sun will go down - they will become people, fall into the sea and drown! And she began to pray to God with all her heart, but the cliff still did not appear. A black cloud was approaching, strong gusts of wind foreshadowed a storm, the clouds gathered in a solid formidable lead wave rolling across the sky; lightning flashed after lightning.

One edge of the sun almost touched the water; Eliza's heart fluttered; the swans suddenly flew down with incredible speed, and the girl already thought that they were all falling; but no, they continued to fly again. The sun was half under the water, and only then did Eliza see a cliff beneath her, no larger than a seal sticking its head out of the water.

The sun was rapidly dying out; now it looked like just a small shiny star; but the swans stepped foot on solid ground, and the sun went out like the last spark of burnt paper. Eliza saw the brothers around her, standing hand in hand; they all barely fit on a tiny cliff. The sea beat furiously against him and showered them with a whole rain of spray; the sky was blazing with lightning, and thunder rumbled every minute, but the sister and brothers held hands and sang a psalm that infused comfort and courage into their hearts.

At dawn the storm subsided, it became clear and quiet again; as the sun rose, the swans and Eliza flew further. The sea was still agitated, and they saw from a height how white foam was floating on the dark green water, like countless flocks of swans.

As the sun rose higher, Eliza saw in front of her a mountainous country floating in the air with masses of glittering ice on the rocks; between the rocks a huge castle towered, entwined with some bold aerial galleries of columns; below him swayed palm forests and luxurious flowers, the size of mill wheels. Eliza asked if this was the country they were flying to, but the swans shook their heads: she saw before her the wonderful, ever-changing cloudy castle of Fata Morgana; there they dared not bring a single human soul. Eliza again turned her gaze on the castle, and now the mountains, forests and the castle moved together, and from them twenty identical majestic churches with bell towers and lancet windows were formed. It even seemed to her that she heard the sounds of an organ, but it was the sound of the sea. Now the churches were very close, but suddenly they turned into a whole flotilla of ships; Eliza peered closer and saw that it was just a sea fog rising above the water. Yes, before her eyes there were ever-changing airy images and pictures! But then, finally, the real land appeared, where they flew. There were wonderful mountains, cedar forests, cities and castles.

Long before sunset, Eliza was sitting on a rock in front of a large cave, as if hung with embroidered green carpets - so she was overgrown with soft green creepers.

- Let's see what you dream here at night! - said the youngest of the brothers and showed his sister her bedroom.

- Oh, if I dreamed of how to free you from the spell! She said, and this thought never left her mind.

Eliza began to pray fervently to God and continued her prayer even in her sleep. And now she dreamed that she was flying high, high through the air to the castle of Fata Morgana and that the fairy herself came out to meet her, so bright and beautiful, but at the same time surprisingly similar to the old woman who gave Eliza berries in the forest and told about swans in golden crowns.

“Your brothers can be saved,” she said. - But do you have enough courage and fortitude? Water is softer than your gentle hands and still grinds stones, but it does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel; the water does not have a heart that would languish with fear and anguish, like yours. See, I have nettles in my hands? Such nettles grow here near the cave, and only it, and even the nettle that grows in cemeteries, can be useful to you; mind her! You will pick up these nettles, although your hands will be blistered from the burns; then you knead it with your feet, twist long threads from the resulting fiber, then weave eleven long-sleeved carapace shirts out of them and throw them over the swans; then witchcraft will disappear. But remember that from the minute you start your work, and until you finish it, even if it lasted for whole years, you must not say a word. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a dagger. Their life and death will be in your hands! Remember all this!

And the fairy touched her hand with stinging nettles; Eliza felt a burn-like pain and woke up. It was already a bright day, and next to her lay a bunch of nettles, exactly the same as the one she now saw in her dream. Then she fell to her knees, thanked God and left the cave to get to work at once.

With her tender hands she tore up the angry, stinging nettles, and her hands were covered with large blisters, but she happily endured the pain: if only she could save her lovely brothers! Then she kneaded the nettles with her bare feet and began to twist the green fiber.

As the sun went down, the brothers appeared and were very frightened, seeing that she had become dumb. They thought that this was a new witchcraft of their evil stepmother, but, looking at her hands, they realized that she had become dumb for their salvation. The youngest of the brothers began to cry; his tears fell on her hands, and where the tear fell, the burning blisters disappeared, the pain subsided.

Eliza spent the night at her work; rest did not come to her mind; she thought only of how to free her dear brothers as soon as possible. The whole next day, while the swans flew, she remained alone, but never before had time flown for her so quickly. One carapace shirt was ready, and she set to work on the next.

Suddenly the sounds of hunting horns were heard in the mountains; Eliza was frightened; the sounds came closer, then the barking of dogs came. The girl disappeared into a cave, tied all the nettles she collected into a bunch and sat on it.

At the same mint a large dog jumped out from behind the bushes, followed by another and a third; they barked loudly and ran back and forth. In a few minutes all the hunters gathered at the cave; the most handsome of them was the king of that country; he went up to Eliza - he had never met such a beauty!

- How did you get here, lovely child? He asked, but Eliza only shook her head; She did not dare to speak: the life and salvation of her brothers depended on her silence. Eliza hid her hands under her apron so that the king would not see how she was suffering.

- Come with me! - he said. - You can't stay here! If you are as good as you are, I will dress you in silk and velvet, put a golden crown on your head, and you will live in my magnificent palace! - And he put her on the saddle in front of him; Eliza cried and wrung her hands, but the king said: “I only want your happiness. Someday you yourself will thank me!

And he took her through the mountains, and the hunters galloped after.

Towards evening, the magnificent capital of the king appeared, with churches and domes, and the king brought Eliza to his palace, where fountains murmured in the high marble chambers, and the walls and ceilings were decorated with paintings. But Eliza looked at nothing, cried and yearned; She indifferently gave herself over to the servants, and they put on royal robes, woven pearl threads into her hair and pulled thin gloves over her burnt fingers.

The rich attire went so well to her, she was so dazzlingly good in them that the whole court bowed before her, and the king proclaimed her his bride, although the archbishop shook his head, whispering to the king that the forest beauty must be a witch, which she took away them all eyes and bewitched the heart of the king.

The king, however, did not listen to him, signaled to the musicians, ordered the most charming dancers to be summoned and expensive dishes to be served on the table, and he himself led Eliza through the fragrant gardens to magnificent chambers, but she remained sad and sad as before. But then the king opened the door to a small room located just next to her bedroom. The whole room was hung with green carpets and looked like the forest cave where Eliza was found; a bundle of nettle fiber lay on the floor, and Eliza's carapace-shirt, woven by Eliza, hung from the ceiling; all this, like a curiosity, was taken from the forest by one of the hunters.

- Here you can remember your former home! Said the king. - Here is your work; maybe you sometimes wish to have fun among all the splendor surrounding you with memories of the past!

Seeing the work dear to her heart, Eliza smiled and blushed; she thought about saving the brothers and kissed the king's hand, and he pressed it to his heart and ordered to ring the bells on the occasion of his wedding. The dumb forest beauty became queen.

The archbishop continued to whisper evil speeches to the king, but they did not reach the king's heart, and the wedding took place. The archbishop himself had to put on the crown on the bride; out of annoyance, he pulled a narrow gold hoop so tightly over her forehead that it would hurt anyone, but she did not even pay attention to it: what did bodily pain mean to her if her heart was languishing with longing and pity for her dear brothers! Her lips were still compressed, not a single word flew out of them - she knew that the life of her brothers depended on her silence - but her eyes shone with ardent love for the kind, handsome king, who did everything to please her. Every day she became more and more attached to him. ABOUT! If she could confide in him, express her suffering to him, but - alas! - she had to be silent until she finished her work. At night, she quietly left the royal bedroom in her secret room, similar to a cave, and there weaved one shirt-shell after another, but when she started the seventh, all the fiber came out.

She knew that she could find such nettles in the cemetery, but she had to pick it herself; How to be?

“Oh, what does bodily pain mean in comparison with the sadness that torments my heart! Thought Eliza. - I have to make up my mind! The Lord will not leave me! "

Her heart sank with fear, as if she was going to a bad deed when she made her way into the garden on a moonlit night, and from there along the long alleys and deserted streets to the cemetery.

Disgusting witches sat on wide gravestones; they threw off their rags, as if they were going to swim, tore open fresh graves with their bony fingers, pulled out the bodies and devoured them. Eliza had to walk past them, and they stared at her with their evil eyes - but she made a prayer, picked up nettles and returned home.

Only one person did not sleep that night and saw her - the archbishop; now he was convinced that he was right in suspecting the queen, so she was a witch and therefore managed to bewitch the king and all the people.

When the king came to him in the confessional, the archbishop told him what he had seen and what he suspected; evil words fell from his tongue, and the carved images of the saints shook their heads, as if they wanted to say: "Not true, Eliza is innocent!" But the archbishop reinterpreted this in his own way, saying that the saints also testify against her, shaking their heads in disapproval. Two large tears rolled down the king's cheeks, doubt and despair seized his heart. At night he only pretended to be asleep, in reality the dream escaped him. And then he saw that Eliza got up and disappeared from the bedroom; on the following nights the same thing happened; he watched her and saw her disappear into her secret room.

The king's brow grew darker and darker; Eliza noticed this, but did not understand the reason; her heart ached with fear and with pity for her brothers; bitter tears, shining like diamonds, were rolling down the royal purple, and people who saw her rich attire wanted to be in the queen's place! But soon, soon the end of her work; there was only one shirt missing, and Eliza again lacked fiber. Once again, for the last time, I had to go to the cemetery and pick a few bunches of nettles. She thought with horror of the deserted cemetery and of the terrible witches; but her determination to save her brothers was unshakable, as was her faith in God.

Eliza set out, but the king and the archbishop watched her and saw her disappear behind the graveyard fence; coming closer, they saw the witches sitting on the tombstones, and the king turned back; between these witches there was also the one whose head had just rested on his chest!

- Let her people judge! - he said.

And the people awarded - to burn the queen at the stake.

From the magnificent royal chambers, Eliza was transferred to a gloomy, damp dungeon with iron bars on the windows, into which the wind whistled. Instead of velvet and silk, they gave the poor thing a bundle of nettles she had collected from the cemetery; this burning bundle was supposed to serve as a headboard for Eliza, and the rigid shirts-shells woven by her - as a bed and carpets; but they could not give her anything more dear than all this, and with prayer on her lips she resumed her work. From the street, Eliza could hear the insulting songs of the street boys mocking her; not a single living soul addressed her with words of consolation and sympathy.

In the evening, the sound of swan wings was heard at the grating - the youngest of the brothers found the sister, and she sobbed loudly with joy, although she knew that she had only one night to live; but her work was coming to an end, and the brothers were here!

The archbishop came to spend her last hours with her, - so he promised the king, - but she shook her head and her eyes and with signs asked him to leave; that night she had to finish her work, otherwise all her suffering, and tears, and sleepless nights would have been lost for nothing! The archbishop left, reviling her with swear words, but poor Eliza knew that she was innocent and continued to work.

In order to help her at least a little, the mice scampering on the floor began to collect and bring scattered stalks of nettles to her feet, and the thrush, sitting behind a lattice window, consoled her with his cheerful song.

At dawn, shortly before sunrise, the eleven brothers of Eliza appeared at the palace gates and demanded to be admitted to the king. They were told that this was impossible: the king was still asleep and no one dared to disturb him. They kept asking, then they began to threaten; the guard appeared, and then the king himself went out to find out what was the matter. But at that moment the sun rose, and there were no more brothers - eleven wild swans soared over the palace.

The people flocked out of town to see how they would burn the witch. A pitiful nag was carrying the cart in which Eliza was sitting; a coarse burlap cloak was thrown over her; her wonderful long hair was loose over her shoulders, her face was not bloody, her lips moved softly, whispering prayers, and her fingers were spinning green yarn. Even on the way to the place of execution, she did not let go of the work she had begun; ten shirts-shells lay at her feet quite ready, the eleventh she was weaving. The crowd sneered at her.

- Look at the witch! Look, mumbles! Probably not a prayer book in her hands - no, everything is fiddling with its witchcraft! Let's rip them out from her and tear them to shreds.

And they crowded around her, intending to snatch the work from her hands, when suddenly eleven white swans flew in, sat down at the edges of the cart and noisily flapped their mighty wings. The frightened crowd retreated.

- This is a sign from heaven! She is innocent, many whispered, but did not dare say it out loud.

The executioner grabbed Eliza's hand, but she hastily threw eleven shirts on the swans, and ... eleven handsome princes stood in front of her, only the youngest lacked one hand, instead of her there was a swan wing: Eliza did not have time to finish the last shirt, and she was missing one sleeve.

- Now I can speak! - she said. - I'm innocent!

And the people, who saw everything that happened, bowed before her as before a saint, but she fell senseless into the arms of her brothers - this is how the tireless tension of strength, fear and pain affected her.

- Yes, she is innocent! - said the oldest brother and told everything as it was; and while he spoke, a fragrance spread in the air, as if from a multitude of roses - each log in the fire took root and shoots, and a tall fragrant bush was formed, covered with red roses. At the very top of the bush, a dazzling white flower shone like a star. The king tore it off, put it on Eliza's chest, and she came to herself with joy and happiness!

All the church bells rang by themselves, the birds flew in flocks, and such a wedding procession was drawn to the palace, such as no king had ever seen!

Far, far away, in the country where swallows fly away from us for the winter, there lived a king. He had eleven sons and one daughter, Eliza. Eleven brothers-princes went to school with stars on their chests and sabers at their feet. They wrote on gold boards with diamond leads and knew how to read by heart as well as from a book. It was immediately obvious that they were real princes. And their sister Eliza sat on a bench made of mirrored glass and looked at a picture book for which half of the kingdom had been given.

Yes, the children lived well, but not for long. Their father, the king of that country, married an evil queen, and from the very beginning she took a dislike to poor children. They experienced it the very first day. A feast was going on in the palace, and the children started a game to visit. But instead of cakes and baked apples, which they always got enough, their stepmother gave them a teacup of river sand - let them imagine that this is a treat.

A week later, she gave her sister Eliza to the village to be raised by the peasants, but a little more time passed, and she managed to tell the king so much about the poor princes that he did not want to see them anymore.

Fly to all four directions and take care of yourself! said the evil queen. - Fly with big birds without a voice!

But it didn't work out the way she wanted: they turned into eleven beautiful wild swans, flew out of the windows of the palace with a cry and rushed over the parks and forests.

It was early morning when they flew past the house where their sister Eliza was still deeply asleep. They began circling over the roof, stretching out their flexible necks and flapping their wings, but no one heard or saw them. So they had to fly away with nothing. They soared under the very clouds and flew into a large dark forest near the seashore.

And poor Eliza remained to live in a peasant house and played with a green leaf - she had no other toys. She poked a hole in the sheet, looked through it at the sun, and it seemed to her that she saw the clear eyes of her brothers. And when a warm ray of sun fell on her cheek, she remembered their tender kisses.

Days went by, one like the other. Sometimes the wind swayed the rose bushes that grew near the house and whispered to the roses:

Is there anyone more beautiful than you?

The roses shook their heads and answered:

And it was absolutely true.

But then Eliza was fifteen years old, and she was sent home. When the queen saw how pretty she was, she became angry and hated her even more, And the stepmother would like to turn Eliza into a wild swan, the Jacques of her brothers, but she did not dare to do it now, because the king wanted to see his daughter.

And so early in the morning the queen went to the marble bath, decorated with soft pillows and wonderful carpets, took three toads, kissed each of them and said to the first:

As Eliza enters the bath, sit on her head, let her become as lazy as you. And you sit on Eliza's forehead, - she said to the other. - Let her become as ugly as you, so that her father does not recognize her. “Well, you lay down on Eliza’s heart,” she said to the third. - Let her become angry and suffer from it!

The queen put the toads into the clear water, and the water turned green at once. Queen Eliza called, undressed and told her to go into the water. Eliza obeyed, and one toad sat on her crown, another on her forehead, and a third on her chest, but Eliza did not even notice this, and as soon as she got out of the water, three scarlet poppies swam in the water. And if the toads were not poisonous and not kissed by a witch, they would turn into scarlet roses. Eliza was so innocent that witchcraft was powerless against her.

The evil queen saw this, rubbed Eliza with walnut juice, so that she turned completely black, smeared her face with a stinking ointment, and disheveled her hair. It was now completely impossible to recognize the pretty Eliza.

Her father saw her, got scared and said that it was not his daughter. No one recognized her, except for a chain dog and swallows, but who would listen to the poor creatures!

Poor Eliza cried and thought of her brothers who had been driven out. Sad, she left the palace and wandered all day through the fields and marshes to the big forest. She herself did not really know where to go, but it was so heavy in her heart and she yearned for her brothers so much that she decided to look for them until she found them.

She did not walk through the forest for long, when night fell. Eliza completely lost her way, lay down on the soft moss and bowed her head on the stump. It was quiet in the forest, the air was so warm, hundreds of fireflies flickered around with green lights, and when she gently touched the branch, they fell on her like a star rain.

All night Eliza dreamed of brothers. They were all children again, played together, wrote with diamond leads on gold boards and looked at a wonderful picture book, for which half of the kingdom had been given. But they did not write dashes and zeroes on the boards, as before, no, they described everything that they saw and experienced. All the pictures in the book came to life, the birds sang, and people left the pages and talked with Eliza and her brothers, but when she turned the page, they jumped back so that there was no confusion in the pictures.

When Eliza woke up, the sun was already high. She could not see him well behind the dense foliage of trees, but his rays floated in the sky, like a vibrating golden muslin. It smelled of grass, and the birds almost sat on Eliza's shoulders. There was a splash of water - several large streams ran nearby, flowing into a pond with a wonderful sandy bottom. The pond was surrounded by dense bushes, but in one place the wild deer made a large passage, and Eliza could go down to the water, so transparent that, if the wind did not sway the branches of trees and bushes, one would think that they were painted on the bottom, so every leaf was clearly reflected in the water, both illuminated by the sun and covered in the shade.

Eliza saw her face in the water and was completely frightened - it was so black and disgusting. But then she scooped up a handful of water, washed her forehead and eyes, and her white, dull skin shone again. Then Eliza undressed and went into the cool water. It was more beautiful to look for a princess all over the world!

Eliza got dressed, braided her long hair and went to the spring, drank from a handful and wandered further into the forest, not knowing where. On the way, she came across a wild apple tree, the branches of which were bent from the weight of the fruit. Eliza ate apples, propped up the branches with stakes and went deep into the thicket of the forest. The silence was such that Eliza heard her own footsteps and the rustle of every dry leaf she stepped on. There was not a single bird to be seen here, not a single ray of sunlight pierced through the continuous interweaving of branches. The tall trees were so dense that when she looked in front of her, it seemed to her that she was surrounded by log walls. Eliza had never felt so lonely.

It grew even darker at night, not a single firefly glowed in the moss. Sad, Eliza lay down on the grass, and early in the morning went on. Then an old woman met her with a basket of berries. The old woman gave Eliza a handful of berries, and Eliza asked if there were eleven princes passing through the forest.

No, the old woman answered. - But I saw eleven swans in crowns, they swam on the river nearby.

And the old woman took Eliza to a cliff, under which a river flowed. The trees that grew along its banks pulled long branches covered with dense foliage to each other, and where they could not reach each other, their roots protruded from the ground and, intertwined with the branches, hung over the water.

Eliza said goodbye to the old woman and walked along the river to the place where the river flowed into the great sea.

And then a wonderful sea opened before the girl. But not a single sail was visible on it, not a single boat. How was she to continue on her way? The whole shore was strewn with countless pebbles, the water rolled around them, and they were completely round. Glass, iron, stones - everything that was washed ashore by the waves took its shape from the water, and the water was much softer than Eliza's gentle hands.

“Waves tirelessly roll one after another and smooth out everything solid, I will be tireless too! Thank you for the science, bright, fast waves! My heart tells me that someday you will take me to my dear brothers! "

Eleven white swan feathers lay on the seaweed thrown out by the sea, and Eliza gathered them in a bunch. Drops glistened on them - dew or tears, who knows? It was deserted on the shore, but Eliza did not notice it: the sea was always changing, and in a few hours more could be seen here than in a whole year on freshwater lakes on land. A big black cloud is approaching, and the sea seems to be saying: “I can look gloomy too,” - and the wind swoops in, and the waves show their white underside. But the clouds gleam pink, the wind sleeps, and the sea looks like a rose petal. Sometimes it is green, sometimes it is white, but no matter how calm it may be, it is constantly in motion near the coast. The water rises gently, like the chest of a sleeping child.

At sunset Eliza saw eleven wild swans in golden crowns. They flew towards land, following one after the other, and it looked like a long white ribbon was waving in the sky. Eliza climbed to the top of the bank and hid behind a bush. Swans descended nearby and flapped their large white wings.

And as soon as the sun set in the sea, the swans dropped their feathers and turned into eleven beautiful princes - Eliza's brothers, Eliza screamed loudly, immediately recognized them, felt in her heart that it was they, although the brothers had changed a lot. She threw herself into their arms, called them by their names, and how happy they were to see their sister, who had grown so much prettier! And Eliza and her brothers laughed and cried and soon learned from each other how cruelly their stepmother had treated them.

We, said the eldest of the brothers, fly like wild swans while the sun is in the sky. And when it comes down, we again take a human form. That is why we must always be on land by sunset. If we happen to turn into humans, when we fly under the clouds, we will fall into the abyss. We do not live here. Beyond the sea lies the same wonderful country like this, but the way there is long, you have to fly across the sea, and on the way there is not a single island where you could spend the night. Only in the very middle a lonely cliff sticks out of the sea, and we can rest on it, hugging each other closely, that's how small it is. When the sea is rough, the spray is flying right through us, but we are glad to have such a haven. We spend the night there in our human form. Were it not for the cliff, we would not have seen our sweet homeland at all: we need two longest days of the year for this flight, and only once a year are we allowed to fly home. We can live here for eleven days and fly over this large forest, look at the palace where we were born and where our father lives. Here we are familiar with every bush, every tree, here, as in the days of our childhood, wild horses run across the plains, and the coal miners sing the same songs to which we danced as children. This is our homeland, we strive here with all our hearts, and here we found you, our dear sister! We can stay here for two more days, and then we have to fly overseas to a wonderful, but not native country. How can we take you with us? We have no ship or boat!

Ah, if only I could remove the spell from you! - said the sister.

So they talked all night and dozed off only for a few hours.

Eliza woke up to the sound of swan wings. The brothers again turned into birds, they circled over her, and then disappeared from sight. Only one of the swans, the youngest, stayed with her. He laid his head in her lap and she stroked his white wings. They spent the whole day together, and in the evening the others flew in, and when the sun went down, everyone again took a human form.

We have to leave tomorrow and we won't be able to return earlier than in a year. Do you have the courage to fly with us? I alone can carry you in my arms through the whole forest, so can we all not be able to carry you on wings across the sea?

Yes, take me with you! - said Eliza.

All night long they weaved a net of flexible willow bark and reeds. Large and durable mesh came out. Eliza lay down in it, and the sun rose a little, the brothers turned into swans, caught the net with their beaks and soared with their sweet, still sleeping sister under the clouds. The sun's rays were shining directly into her face, and one swan flew over her head, covering her from the sun with its wide wings.

They were already far from the ground when Eliza woke up, and it seemed to her that she was dreaming in reality, it was so strange to fly through the air. Next to her lay a branch with wonderful ripe berries and a bunch of delicious roots. The youngest of the brothers dialed them, and Eliza smiled at him - she guessed that he was flying over her and covering her from the sun with his wings.

Swans were flying high, high, so that the first ship they saw looked like a seagull floating on the water. There was a big cloud in the sky behind them - a real mountain! - and on it Eliza saw the giant shadows of eleven swans and her own. She had never seen such a magnificent sight before. But the sun rose higher and higher, a cloud remained farther behind, and little by little the moving shadows disappeared.

All day the swans flew like an arrow fired from a bow, but still slower than usual, because this time they had to carry their sister. Evening was approaching, a storm was gathering. Eliza watched with fear as the sun went down, the lonely cliff of the sea still to be seen. And it also seemed to her that the swans were flapping their wings as if through force. Ah, it's her fault that they can't fly faster! The sun will set and they will turn into people, fall into the sea and drown ...

A black cloud approached closer, strong gusts of wind foreshadowed a storm. The clouds gathered in a formidable leaden shaft rolling across the sky. Lightning flashed one after another.

The sun had already touched the water, Eliza's heart fluttered. The swans suddenly began to descend, but so rapidly that Eliza thought they were falling. But no, they continued to fly. Now the sun was half hidden under the water, and only then Eliza saw a cliff under her, no larger than the head of a seal sticking out of the water. The sun was quickly sinking into the sea, and now it seemed no larger than a star. But then the swans stepped on the stone, and the sun went out, like the last spark of burning paper. The brothers stood arm in arm around Eliza, and they all barely fit on the cliff. The waves hit him with force and splashed them. The sky was constantly illuminated with lightning, thunder rumbled every minute, but the sister and brothers, holding hands, found courage and consolation in each other.

At dawn it became clear and quiet again. As soon as the sun rose, the swans and Eliza flew on. The sea was still agitated, and from a height one could see white foam floating on the dark green water, like countless flocks of pigeons.

But then the sun rose higher, and Eliza saw in front of her, as it were, a mountainous country floating in the air with blocks of sparkling ice on the rocks, and right in the middle there was a castle, which stretched, probably for a whole mile, with some amazing galleries one above the other. Below him swayed palm groves and splendid flowers the size of mill wheels. Eliza asked if this was the country they were heading to, but the swans just shook their heads: it was just the wonderful, ever-changing cloud castle of Fata Morgana.

Eliza looked and looked at him, and now the mountains, forests and the castle moved together and formed twenty magnificent churches with bell towers and lancet windows. It even seemed to her that she heard the sounds of an organ, but it was the sound of the sea. The churches were quite close when they suddenly turned into a whole flotilla of ships. Eliza peered closer and saw that it was just sea fog rising above the water. Yes, before her eyes there were always changing images and pictures!

But then the land appeared, to which they were heading. There were wonderful mountains with cedar forests, cities and castles. And already long before sunset, Eliza was sitting on a rock in front of a large cave, as if hung with embroidered green carpets, so she was overgrown with soft green climbing plants.

Let's see what you dream here at night! - said the youngest of the brothers and showed his sister her bedroom.

Ah, if only in a dream it were revealed to me how to remove the spell from you! - she answered, and this thought did not leave her head.

And then she dreamed that she was flying high, high through the air to the castle of Fata Morgana and the fairy herself comes out to meet her, so bright and beautiful, but at the same time surprisingly similar to the old woman who gave Eliza berries in the forest and told about swans in golden crowns.

“Your brothers can be saved,” she said. - But do you have enough courage and fortitude? The water is softer than your hands and still rolls over the stones, but it does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel. Water does not have a heart that would languish with anguish and fear, like yours. See, I have nettles in my hands? Such nettles grow here near the cave, and only it, and even the one that grows in cemeteries, can help you. Notice her! You will pick up these nettles, although your hands will blister from the burns. Then you knead it with your legs, you get fiber. From it you will weave eleven long-sleeved carapace shirts and throw them over the swans. Then the witchcraft will dissipate. But remember that from the minute you start work until you finish, even if it lasts for years, you should not say a word. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a deadly dagger. Their life and death will be in your hands. Remember all this! ”

And the fairy touched her hand with nettles. Eliza felt a burn-like pain and woke up. It was already daylight, and next to her lay nettles, exactly like the one she had seen in her dream. Eliza left the cave and set to work.

With her tender hands she tore up the angry, stinging nettles, and her hands were covered with blisters, but she happily endured the pain - if only to save the lovely brothers! With bare feet, she kneaded nettles and spun green threads.

But then the sun went down, the brothers returned, and how they were afraid when they saw that their sister had become dumb! This is nothing less than the new witchcraft of the wicked stepmother, they decided. But the brothers looked at her hands and understood what she was up to to save them. The youngest of the brothers cried, and where his tears fell, the pain subsided, the burning blisters disappeared.

Eliza spent the whole night at work, because she did not have peace until she freed her lovely brothers. And all the next day, while the swans were away, she sat alone, but never before had time flown so fast for her.

One carapace shirt was ready, and she began to work on another, when the hunting horns sounded in the mountains. Eliza was frightened. And the sounds came nearer, the barking of dogs was heard. Eliza fled to the cave, tied up the nettles she had collected and sat on it.

Then a large dog jumped out from behind the bushes, followed by another, a third. The dogs barked loudly and ran back and forth at the cave entrance. In less than a few minutes, all the hunters gathered at the cave. The most beautiful among them was the king of that country. He approached Eliza - and when he had not yet met such a beauty.

How did you get here, beautiful child? - he asked, but Eliza only shook her head in response, because she couldn't speak, the life and salvation of the brothers depended on it.

She hid her hands under her apron so that the king would not see the torment she had to endure.

Come with me! - he said. - You don't belong here! If you are as kind as you are good, I will dress you in silk and velvet, put a golden crown on your head, and you will live in my magnificent palace!

And he put her on his horse. Eliza cried and wrung her hands, but the king said:

I only want your happiness! Someday you will be grateful to me for this!

And he drove her through the mountains, and the hunters galloped after.

Towards evening, the magnificent capital of the king appeared, with temples and domes, and King Eliza brought him to his palace. Fountains gurgled in the tall marble rooms, and the walls and ceilings were painted with beautiful paintings. But Eliza did not look at anything, but only cried and yearned. As lifeless, she allowed the servants to put on royal clothes, weave pearls into her hair and pull thin gloves over her burnt fingers.

Dazzlingly beautiful she stood in luxurious decoration, and the whole court bowed low to her, and the king proclaimed her his bride, although the archbishop shook his head and whispered to the king that this forest beauty must be a witch, that she averted everyone's eyes and bewitched the king.

But the king did not listen to him, made a sign to the musicians, ordered to call the most charming dancers and serve expensive food, and he himself led Eliza through fragrant gardens to luxurious chambers. But there was no smile on her lips or in her eyes, but only sadness, as if it had been written to her like that. But then the king opened the door to a small room next to her bedroom. The room was hung with expensive green carpets and resembled the cave where Eliza was found. A bundle of nettle fiber lay on the floor, and Eliza's carapace shirt hung from the ceiling. All this, like a curiosity, was taken from the forest by one of the hunters.

Here you can remember your former home! said the king. - Here is the work you did. Perhaps now, in your glory, the memories of the past will entertain you.

Eliza saw the work dear to her heart, and a smile played on her lips, blood rushed to her cheeks. She thought about saving the brothers and kissed the king's hand, and he pressed it to his heart.

The archbishop still whispered evil words to the king, but they did not reach the king's heart. The next day they got married. The archbishop himself had to put on the crown on the bride. Out of frustration, he pulled the narrow gold hoop so tightly over her forehead that it would hurt anyone. But another, heavier hoop squeezed her heart - sorrow for her brothers, and she did not notice the pain. Her lips were still closed - a single word could cost her brothers their lives - but her eyes shone with ardent love for the kind, handsome king who did everything to please her. Every day she grew more and more attached to him. Oh, if only you could trust him, tell him your torment! But she had to be silent, had to do her job in silence. That is why at night she would quietly leave the royal bedchamber to her secret cave-like room and weave there one carapace shirt after another. But when she started on the seventh, she ran out of fiber.

Finding the nettles she needed, she knew, could be in the cemetery, but she herself had to tear them up. How to be?

“Ah, what does the pain in my fingers mean compared to the anguish of my heart? thought Eliza. - I have to make up my mind!

Her heart sank with fear, as if she were going on a foolish business when she made her way to the garden on a moonlit night, and from there along the long alleys and deserted streets to the cemetery. Ugly witches sat on wide gravestones and stared at her with evil eyes, but she picked up some nettles and returned back to the palace.

Only one person did not sleep that night and saw her - the archbishop. It just turned out that he was right, suspecting that the queen was not clean. And it really turned out that she was a witch, which is why she managed to bewitch the king and all the people.

In the morning he told the king what he saw and what he suspected. Two heavy tears rolled down the king's cheeks, and doubt crept into his heart. At night he pretended to be asleep, but sleep did not come to him, and the king noticed how Eliza got up and disappeared from the bedchamber. And so it was repeated every night, and every night he watched her and saw her disappear into her secret room.

Day by day the king grew gloomy and gloomy. Eliza saw this, but did not understand why, and she was afraid, and her heart ached for her brothers. Her bitter tears rolled down onto the royal velvet and purple. They glittered like diamonds, and people who saw her in magnificent clothes wanted to be in her place.

But soon, soon the end of the work! There was only one shirt missing, and then she again ran out of fiber. One more time - the last one - I had to go to the cemetery and pick a few bunches of nettles. She thought with fear of the deserted cemetery and the terrible witches, ”but her resolve was unshakable.

And Eliza went, but the king and the archbishop followed her. They saw how she disappeared behind the cemetery gates, and when they approached the gates, they saw witches on the tombstones, and the king turned back.

Let her people judge! - he said.

And the people awarded - to burn her at the stake.

From the luxurious royal chambers, Eliza was led into a gloomy, damp dungeon with a grate on the window, into which the wind blew with a whistle. Instead of velvet and silk, she was given a bundle of nettles she had collected from the cemetery under her head, and the hard, burning shirt-shells were to serve as her bed and blanket. But she did not need a better gift, and she again set to work. Street boys sang mocking songs to her outside the window, and not a single living soul found a word of comfort for her.

But towards evening, the sound of swan wings was heard at the grate - the younger of the brothers found her sister, and she wept with joy, although she knew that she had perhaps only one night left to live. But her work was almost finished and the brothers were here!

Eliza wove the last shirt all night. To help her at least a little, the mice running through the dungeon brought stalks of nettles to her feet, and a blackbird sat at the window grill and cheered her up all night with his cheerful song.

Dawn was just beginning, and the sun was supposed to appear only an hour later, and eleven brothers had already appeared at the gate of the palace and demanded that they be allowed to see the king. They were told that this was in no way possible: the king was asleep, and he could not be woken up. The brothers continued to ask, then they began to threaten, the guards appeared, and then the king himself went out to find out what was the matter. But then the sun rose, and the brothers disappeared, and eleven swans flew over the palace.

The people poured out into the city to see how the witch would be burned. A pitiful nag was dragging the cart in which Eliza sat. A coarse burlap robe was thrown over her. Her wonderful, wondrous hair fell over her shoulders, there was not a single blood in her face, her lips moved silently, and her fingers twisted green yarn. Even on the way to the place of execution, she did not let go of her work. Ten carapace shirts lay at her feet, the eleventh she was weaving. The crowd sneered at her.

Look at the witch! Look, he mumbles his lips but still won't part with his witchcraft! Rip them out of her and tear them to shreds!

And the crowd rushed to her and was about to rip the nettles shirts, when suddenly eleven white swans flew in, sat around her at the edges of the cart and flapped their mighty wings. The crowd left.

This is a sign from heaven! She is innocent! - many whispered, but did not dare to say it aloud.

The executioner had already grabbed Eliza by the arm, but she quickly threw nettles shirts on the swans, and they all turned into handsome princes, only the youngest had a wing instead of one arm: before Eliza had time to finish the last shirt, one sleeve was missing.

Now I can speak! - she said. - I'm innocent!

And the people, who saw everything, bowed before her, and she fell senseless into the arms of her brothers, so she was exhausted by fear and pain.

Yes, she is innocent! - said the eldest of the brothers and told everything how it was, and as he spoke, a fragrance spread in the air, as if from a million roses, - each log in the fire took root and branches, and now at the site of the fire there was a fragrant bush, all in scarlet roses. And at the very top, a dazzling white flower shone like a star. The king tore it off and put it on Eliza's chest, and she woke up, and in her heart there was peace and happiness.

Then all the bells in the city rang by themselves, and countless flocks of birds flew in, and such a joyful procession was drawn to the palace, such as no king had ever seen!

Far, far away, in the country where swallows fly away from us for the winter, there lived a king. He had eleven sons and one daughter named Eliza. Eleven brother princes were already attending school; a star shone on everyone's chest, and a saber thundered at the left side. The princes wrote with diamond leads on gold boards and knew how to read perfectly - both from a book, and without a book, as a keepsake. Of course, only real princes could read so well. While the princes studied, their sister Eliza sat on a bench made of mirrored glass and looked at a picture book that was worth half a kingdom. Yes, the children lived well! But soon things turned out differently.
Their mother died and the king married again. The stepmother was an evil witch and disliked poor children. On the very first day, when the king's wedding was celebrated in the palace, the children felt how wicked their stepmother was. They started a game of "visiting" and asked the queen to give them cakes and baked apples to feed their guests. But the stepmother gave them a teacup of plain sand and said:
- Enough for you and this!
Another week passed, and the stepmother decided to get rid of Eliza. She sent her to the village to be raised by some peasants. And then the wicked stepmother began to slander the poor princes to the king and said so much bad that the king did not want to see his sons anymore.
And so the queen ordered to call the princes, and as they approached her, she shouted:
- Let each of you turn into a black crow! Fly away from the palace and get your own food!
But she failed to complete her evil deed. The princes turned not into ugly crows, but into beautiful wild swans. With a cry they flew out of the windows of the palace and rushed over parks and forests.
It was early morning when eleven swans flew past the hut where their sister Eliza was still deeply asleep. They flew over the roof for a long time, stretching their flexible necks and flapping their wings, but no one heard or saw them. So they had to fly away further without seeing their sister.
High, high, to the very clouds, they soared and flew into a large dark forest that stretched to the sea.
And poor Eliza remained to live in a peasant hut. For days she played with a green leaf - she had no other toys; she poked a hole in the leaf and looked through it at the sun - it seemed to her that she was seeing the clear eyes of her brothers.
Days went by. Sometimes the wind swayed the rose bushes that blossomed near the house and asked the roses:
- Is there anyone more beautiful than you? And the roses, shaking their heads, answered:
“Eliza is prettier than us.
And finally Eliza was fifteen years old, and the peasants sent her home to the palace.
The Queen saw how beautiful her stepdaughter was, and she hated Eliza even more. The evil stepmother would like to turn Eliza, like her brothers, into a wild swan, but this she could not do: the king wanted to see his daughter.
And so early in the morning the queen went to her marble bath, all tidied up with wonderful carpets and soft pillows. In the corner of the bath were three toads. The queen took them in her arms and kissed them. Then she said to the first toad:
- When Eliza enters the bath, sit on her head - let her do the same. stupid and lazy like you.
To another toad the queen said:
- And you jump on Eliza's forehead - let her become as ugly as you. Then and own father She will not recognize her ... Well, and you lie on her heart! - the queen whispered to the third toad. - Let her become angry so that no one would love her.
And the queen threw the toads into the clear water. The water immediately turned green and cloudy.
The queen called Eliza, undressed her and ordered her to enter the water.
As soon as Eliza stepped into the water, one heat jumped to her crown, another to her forehead, and a third to her chest. But Eliza did not even notice it. And three toads, touching Eliza, turned into three red poppies. And Eliza came out of the water as beautiful as she entered.
Then the evil queen rubbed Eliza with walnut juice, and poor Eliza turned completely black. And then her stepmother smeared her face with a smelly ointment and tangled her lovely hair. Now no one would be able to recognize Eliza. Even the father, looking at her, got scared and said that this was not his daughter. No one recognized Eliza. Only the old chained dog rushed to her with a friendly barking, and the swallows, which she often fed with crumbs, chirped their song to her. But who will pay attention to poor animals?
Eli cried bitterly for and secretly left the palace. All day she wandered through the fields and swamps, making her way to the forest. Eliza herself did not quite know where to go. She kept thinking about the brothers whom the evil stepmother had also kicked out of her home. Eliza decided to look for them everywhere until she found them.
By the time Eliza reached the forest, it was already night, and the poor girl had completely lost her way. She sank down on soft moss and laid her head on a stump. The forest was quiet and warm. Hundreds of fireflies, like green lights, flickered in the grass, and when Eliza touched a bush with her hand, some shiny beetles fell from the leaves like a star rain.
All night Eliza dreamed of brothers: they were all children again, played together, wrote with diamond leads on gold boards and looked at a wonderful picture book, for which half of the kingdom was given. The pictures in the book were alive: the birds were singing and people jumped out of the pages of the book and talked with Eliza and her brothers; but as soon as Eliza turned the page, people jumped back - otherwise there would be confusion in the pictures.
When Eliza woke up, the sun was already high; she could not even get a good look at him behind the dense foliage of the trees. Only sometimes the sun's rays made their way between the branches and ran like golden bunnies on the grass. The murmur of a brook was heard in the distance. Eliza walked over to the stream and bent over it. The water in the brook was clear and clear. If it were not for the wind that stirred the branches of trees and bushes, one would think that both trees and bushes were painted at the bottom of the stream - they were so clearly reflected in the calm water.
Eliza saw her face in the water and was very frightened - it was so black and ugly. But then she scooped up water with her hand, rubbed her eyes and forehead, and her face again became white as before. Then Eliza undressed and entered the cool, clear stream. The water immediately washed off the walnut juice and the smelly ointment with which Eliza's stepmother rubbed it.
Then Eliza got dressed, braided her long hair in braids, and walked on through the forest, not knowing where. On the way, she saw a wild apple tree, the branches of which were bent from the weight of the fruit. Eliza ate the apples, propped up the branches with chopsticks and walked on. Soon she entered the very thicket of the forest. Not a single bird flew here, not a single ray of sunlight penetrated through the tangled branches. The tall trunks stood in dense rows, like walls of logs. It was so quiet all around that Eliza heard her own footsteps, heard the rustle of every dry leaf that came under her feet. Eliza had never been in such a wilderness.
At night it became completely dark, even the fireflies did not shine in the moss. Eliza lay down on the grass and fell asleep.
Early in the morning she went on and suddenly met an old woman with a basket of berries. The old woman gave the girl a handful of berries, and Eliza asked her if there were eleven princes passing through the forest here.
- No, - said the old woman, - I have not met princes, but yesterday I saw eleven swans in golden crowns here on the river.
And the old woman took Eliza to the cliff, under which the river flowed. Eliza said goodbye to the old woman and walked along the river bank.
Eliza walked for a long time, and suddenly an endless sea opened up in front of her. Not a single sail was visible at sea, not a single boat was nearby.
Eliza sat down on a stone near the shore and wondered what to do, where to go next?
They ran up to Eliza's feet sea \u200b\u200bwaves, they carried small stones with them. The water rubbed off the edges of the stones, and they were completely smooth and round.
And the girl thought: “How much work does it take to make a solid stone smooth and round! And the water does it. The sea tirelessly and patiently rolls its waves and conquers the hardest stones. Thank you for what you taught me, bright fast waves! I will, like you, work tirelessly. My heart tells me that someday you will take me to my dear brothers! "
On the shore, among the dry seaweed, Eliza found eleven white swan feathers. Drops still glistened on the feathers - dew or tears, who knows? The place was deserted, but Eliza did not feel lonely. She looked at the sea and couldn't get enough of it.
Now a big black cloud is approaching the sky, the wind grows stronger, and the sea also turns black, agitates and rages. But a cloud passes, pink clouds float across the sky, the wind subsides, and the sea is already calm, now it looks like a rose petal. Sometimes it turns green, sometimes white. But no matter how quiet it is in the air and no matter how calm the sea is, the surf always rustles near the coast, a slight excitement is always noticeable - the water rises quietly, like the chest of a sleeping child.
As the sun was about to set, Eliza saw wild swans. Like a long white ribbon, they flew one after the other. There were eleven of them. Each swan had a small golden crown on its head. Eliza walked to the edge and hid in the bushes. Swans descended near her and flapped their large white wings.
At that very moment, the sun disappeared under the water - and suddenly their white feathers fell from the swans, and no longer eleven swans stood in front of Eliza, but eleven handsome princes. Eliza screamed loudly - she immediately recognized her brothers, although they had changed a lot over the years. Eliza threw herself into their arms and began to call them all by their first names.
The brothers were very happy to have found a sister who had grown so much and became so beautiful. Eliza and the brothers laughed and cried, and then they told each other everything that had happened to them.
The eldest of the princes told Eliza:
“We fly wild swans all day, from sunrise to sunset. When the sun goes down, we turn into people again. And so by the hour of sunset we hasten to descend to the ground. If we were to become humans while flying high above the clouds, we would immediately fall to the ground and crash. We do not live here. Far, far beyond the sea lies a country as beautiful as this. This is where we live. But the road there is long, we have to fly over the whole sea, and along the way there is not a single island where we could spend the night. Only in the middle of the sea is a lonely cliff. It is so small that we can only stand on it, hugging each other closely. When the sea rages, the splashing waves fly over our heads. But still, if it were not for this cliff, we would never have been able to visit our native land: the sea is wide, we cannot fly over it from sunrise to sunset. Only twice a year, on the longest days, can our wings carry us across the sea. And so we arrive here and live here for eleven days. We fly over this large forest and look at the palace where we were born and spent our childhood. It is clearly visible from here. Here, every bush and every tree seems to be native to us. Wild horses, which we saw in childhood, run along green meadows, and coal miners sing the very songs that we heard when we lived in our own palace. Here is our homeland, here pulls us with all our hearts, and here we found you, dear, dear sister! This time we have been here for nine days. In two days we must fly overseas, to a beautiful, but foreign country. How can we take you with us? We have no ship or boat.
- Oh, if I could free you from the spell! Eliza said to the brothers.
So they talked almost all night and dozed off just before dawn.
Eliza was awakened by the sound of swan wings. The brothers became birds again and flew into their native forest. Only one swan remained on the shore with Eliza. This was the youngest of her brothers. The swan laid his head in her lap, and she stroked and fingered his feathers. They spent the whole day together, and in the evening ten swans flew in, and when the sun went down, they again turned into princes.
“Tomorrow we have to leave and we won't dare to return earlier than next year,” the elder brother said to Eliza, “but we will not leave you here. Let's fly with us! I alone in my arms can carry you through the whole forest, so can we all eleven on our wings not be able to carry you across the sea?
- Yes, take me with you! - said Eliza.
All night long they weaved a net of flexible willow bark and reeds. The mesh came out large and strong, and the brothers put Eliza in it. And at sunrise, ten swans caught the net with their beaks and soared under the clouds. Eliza slept sweetly in the net. And so that the rays of the sun would not wake her up, the eleventh swan flew over her head, protecting Eliza's face from the sun with its wide wings.
The swans were already far from the ground when Eliza woke up, and it seemed to her that she was dreaming in reality - it was so strange for her to fly through the air. Near her lay a branch with ripe berries and a bunch of delicious roots - the youngest brother collected and laid them near Eliza, and Eliza smiled at him - she guessed that he was flying over her and protecting her from the sun with his wings.
High, under the very clouds, the brothers and sister flew, and the first ship that they saw at sea seemed to them like a seagull floating on the water. The swans flew as fast as arrows shot from a bow, but still not as fast as usual: this time they were carrying their sister.
The day began to lean towards evening, and bad weather began to rustle. Eliza watched with fear as the sun sank lower and lower, and the lonely cliff of the sea was still not visible. And Eliza thought that the swans were already completely tired and with difficulty flapping their wings. The sun will set, her brothers on the fly will turn into people, fall into the sea and drown. And she will be to blame! A black cloud was approaching, strong gusts of wind foreshadowed a storm, lightning flashed menacingly.
Eliza's heart fluttered as the sun was almost touching the water.
And suddenly the swans rushed downward with terrible speed. Eliza thought they were falling. But no, they were still flying. And now, when the sun was already halfway into the water, Eliza saw a cliff below. He was very small, no bigger than a seal sticking its head out of the water. The swans stepped onto the rocks of the cliff at the very moment when the last ray of the sun went out in the air. Eliza saw the brothers around her, standing hand in hand; they barely fit on a tiny cliff. The sea beat furiously against the rocks and spattered the brothers and Eliza in a whole shower of spray. The sky was blazing with lightning, and thunder rumbled every minute, but the sister and brothers held hands and encouraged each other with gentle words.
At dawn the storm subsided, and again it became clear and quiet. As soon as the sun rose, the brothers and Eliza flew on. The sea was still agitated, and they saw from above how white foam was floating, like millions of swans, on the dark green water.
When the sun rose higher, Eliza suddenly saw in the distance a huge castle, surrounded by light, as if airy, galleries; below, under the walls of the castle, palm trees swayed and beautiful flowers grew.
Eliza asked if this was the country they were flying to, but the swans shook their heads: it was only the ghostly, ever-changing cloud castle of Fata Morgana. Eliza looked into the distance again, but the castle was gone. Where the castle used to be, high mountains rose, overgrown with dense forest. At the very tops of the mountains, snow sparkled, blocks clear ice descended between impregnable rocks.
Suddenly the mountains turned into a whole flotilla of ships; Eliza peered closer and saw that it was just a sea fog rising above the water.
But at last the real land appeared. There, on the shore, spread green fields, the cedar forests darkened, and in the distance large cities and high castles could be seen. It was still far before sunset, and Eliza was already sitting on a rock in front of a deep cave. Soft green plants twisted along the walls of the cave, as if embroidered green carpets. It was the beautiful home of her swan brothers.
- Let's see what you dream that night, - said the younger brother and took Eliza to her bedchamber.
- Oh, if I saw in a dream how to free you from the spell! Eliza said and closed her eyes.
And now she dreamed that she was flying high, high to the castle that she saw above the sea. And the fairy Fata Morgana comes out of the castle to meet her. Fata Morgana is bright and beautiful, but at the same time, it is surprisingly similar to the old woman who gave Eliza berries in the forest and told about swans in golden crowns.
“Your brothers can be saved,” said Fata Morgana, “but will you have enough courage and stamina? The water is softer than your gentle hands, and yet it makes the stones smooth and round, but the water does not feel the pain that your fingers will feel; water does not have a heart that contracts with fear and anguish, like your heart. See, I have nettles in my hands. The same nettle grows here near the cave, and only it, and even the nettle that grows in the cemetery, can be useful to you. Remember this! Take some nettles, although your hands will blister from burns; then knead it with your feet and squeeze long threads out of it. Use these threads to weave eleven long-sleeved shirts and, when ready, throw them over the swans. As soon as their shirts touch their feathers, witchcraft will disappear. But remember that from the minute you start your work and until you finish it, you should not say a word, even if your work lasted for years. The very first word that comes off your tongue will pierce the hearts of your brothers like a dagger. Their life and death are in your hands! Remember all this!
And Fata Morgana touched Eliza's hand with stinging nettles. Eliza felt a burn-like pain and woke up. It was already a bright day. Near Eliza's bedside lay several stalks of nettles, exactly like the one she had dreamed. Then Eliza left the cave and set to work.
With her tender hands she tore up the angry, stinging nettles, and her fingers were covered with large blisters, but she gladly endured the pain: if only to save the lovely brothers! She picked up a whole bunch of nettles, then kneaded them with her bare legs and began to twist long green threads.
When the sun went down, the brothers flew into the cave. They began to ask the sister about what she was doing while they were away. But Eliza did not answer them a word. The brothers were very frightened when they saw that their sister had become dumb.
This is the new witchcraft of the wicked stepmother, they thought, but looking at Eliza's blistered hands, they realized that she had become dumb to save them. The youngest of the brothers began to cry; his tears dripped onto her hands, and where a tear fell, burning blisters disappeared, the pain subsided.
Eliza spent the night at her work; she did not even think about rest - she only thought about how to free her dear brothers as soon as possible. The next day, while the swans flew, she remained alone, but never before had time passed so quickly. Now one shirt was ready, and the girl began to work on the next.
Suddenly sounds were heard in the mountains. hunting horns. Eliza was frightened. The sounds came closer, then dogs barked. The girl disappeared into a cave, tied all the collected nettles into a bunch and sat down next to him. At the same moment a large dog jumped out from behind the bushes, followed by another and a third. The dogs barked loudly and ran back and forth. Soon all the hunters gathered at the cave. The most handsome of them was the king of that country; he approached Eliza. He had never met such a beauty!
- How did you get here, lovely child? he asked, but Eliza just shook her head - she didn't dare to say: if she had just said one word, her brothers would have died.
Eliza hid her hands under her apron so that the king would not see blisters and scratches.
- Come with me! said the king. - You can't stay here! If you are as kind as you are good, I will dress you in silk and velvet, put a golden crown on your head, and you will live in a magnificent palace.
And he put her on the saddle in front of him.
Eliza wept bitterly, but the king said:
- I only want your happiness. Someday you yourself will thank me.
And he took her to the mountains, and the hunters galloped after.
Towards evening, the magnificent capital of the king appeared before them, with palaces and towers, and the king led Eliza into his palace. Fountains gurgled in the tall marble chambers, and beautiful paintings were painted on the walls and ceilings. But Eliza was not looking at anything, she was crying and longing. The maids put on her royal robes, weaved pearl threads into her hair, and pulled thin gloves over her burnt fingers.
In rich attire, Eliza was so beautiful that the whole court bowed before her, and the king proclaimed her his bride. But the royal bishop shook his head and began to whisper to the king that the dumb beauty must be a forest witch - she bewitched the king's heart.
The king did not listen to him, he signaled to the musicians, ordered the best dancers to be called and expensive dishes to be served on the table, and he himself led Eliza through the fragrant gardens to the magnificent chambers. But Eliza was still sad and sad. Then the king opened the door to a small room near Eliza's bedroom. The room was covered with green carpets and resembled a forest cave where the king found Eliza. A bunch of nettles lay on the floor, and Eliza's shirt hung on the wall. All this, like a curiosity, was taken from the forest by one of the hunters.
“Here you can remember your former home,” said the king. “And here is your job. Perhaps you sometimes wish to amuse yourself amid the splendor surrounding you with memories of the past.
Seeing her nettles and woven shirt, Eliza smiled happily and kissed the king's hand, and he pressed it to his chest.
The bishop continued to whisper evil speeches to the king, but they did not reach the king's heart. The next day they got married. The bishop himself had to put on the crown on the bride; out of annoyance, he pulled the narrow gold band so tightly over her forehead that it would hurt everyone, but Eliza did not even notice it. She kept thinking about her lovely brothers. Her lips were still compressed, not a single word flew out of them, but her eyes glowed with ardent love for the kind, handsome king who did everything to please her. Every day she became more and more attached to him. Oh, if she could tell about her suffering! But she had to remain silent until she finished her work.
At night, she quietly went to her secret room, like a cave, and there weaving one shirt after another. Already six shirts were rosy, but when she started on the seventh, she saw that she no longer had nettles.
Eliza knew she could find such nettles in the cemetery. And at night she quietly left the palace.
Her heart sank with fear as she made her way to the cemetery on a moonlit night along the long alleys of the garden, and then along the deserted streets.
Eliza picked some nettles at the cemetery and returned home.
Only one person did not sleep that night and saw Eliza. It was the bishop.
In the morning the bishop came to the king and told him what he had seen at night.
- Drive her away, king, she is an evil witch! the bishop whispered.
- Not true, Eliza is innocent! - answered the king, but still doubt crept into his heart.
At night, the king only pretended to sleep. And then he saw that Eliza got up and disappeared from the bedroom. In the following nights, the same thing happened again: the king did not sleep and saw her disappear into her secret room.
The king grew darker and darker. Eliza saw this, but did not understand why the king was displeased. Her heart ached with fear and with pity for her brothers; bitter tears, glittering like diamonds, rolled down on her royal dress, and people who saw her rich attire envied her. But soon, soon the end of her work. Ten shirts already. it was ready, but for the eleventh again there were not enough nettles. Once again, for the last time, I had to go to the cemetery and pick a few bunches of nettles. She thought with horror of the deserted cemetery and nevertheless decided to go there.
At night Eliza stealthily emerged from the palace, but the king and the bishop watched her, and they saw Eliza disappear behind the cemetery fence. What could the queen do at night in the cemetery? ..
“Now you can see for yourself that she is an evil witch,” said the bishop and demanded that Eliza be burned at the stake.
And the king had to agree.
Eliza was put in a dark, damp dungeon with iron bars on the windows, into which the wind whistled in. She was thrown into an armful of nettles, which she picked from the cemetery. This stinging nettle was supposed to serve as a headboard for Eliza, and her tight shirts woven as a bed. But Eliza didn't need anything else. She went back to work. In the evening, the sound of swan wings was heard at the grate. It was the youngest of the brothers who found his sister, and Eliza sobbed loudly with joy, although she knew that she had only one night left to live. But her work was coming to an end, and the brothers were here!
Eliza wove the last shirt all night. The mice running through the dungeon took pity on her and, in order to help her at least a little, began to collect and bring scattered stalks of nettles to her feet, and the thrush, sitting behind the lattice window, consoled her with his song.
At dawn, shortly before sunrise, the eleven brothers of Eliza came to the palace gates and demanded to be admitted to the king. They were told that this was impossible: the king was still asleep and no one dared to disturb him. But they did not leave and continued to beg. The king heard voices and looked out the window to find out what was the matter. But at that moment the sun rose and Eliza's brothers disappeared. The king saw only eleven wild swans soar into the sky.
People went out of town in droves to watch the execution of the queen. A pitiful nag was carrying the cart in which Eliza was sitting; Eliza was put on a rough canvas shirt; her lovely long hair was flowing down her shoulders, and her face was as pale as snow. Even on the way to the place of execution, she did not let go of her work: ten shirts lay at her feet completely ready, the eleventh she continued to weave.
- Look at the witch! - shouted in the crowd. - She does not part with her witchcraft! Let's rip them out from her and tear them to shreds!
Someone's hands had already reached out to the cart to snatch the green shirt from Eliza, but suddenly eleven swans flew in. They sat down at the edges of the cart and flapped their mighty wings noisily. The frightened people parted to the sides.
- White swans flew from the sky! She's innocent! - many whispered, but did not dare to say it out loud.
And now the executioner grabbed Eliza by the hand, but she quickly threw green shirts on the swans, and as soon as the shirts touched their feathers, all eleven swans turned into handsome princes.
Only the youngest had a swan wing instead of his left hand: Eliza did not have time to finish the sleeve on the last shirt.
- Now I can speak! - said Eliza. - I am innocent!
And the people, who saw everything that happened, bowed before her and began to glorify her, but Eliza fell senseless into the arms of her brothers. She was tormented by fear and pain.
“Yes, she’s innocent,” said the eldest prince and told everything as it happened.
And while he spoke, a fragrance spread in the air, as if from millions of roses: every log in the fire took root and shoots, and in the place where they wanted to burn Eliza, a tall green bush, covered with red roses, grew. And at the very top of the bush, a dazzling white flower shone like a star.
The king tore it off, put it on Eliza's chest, and she woke up.
Then all the bells in the city rang by themselves, birds flocked in flocks, and such a happy procession was drawn to the palace, which no king had ever seen! That's