English Original
A king was once hunting in a great wood, and he hunted so eagerly that none of his courtiers could follow him. When evening came, he found himself lost. He saw an old woman with a shaking head coming towards him; she was a witch.
"Good woman," he said, "can you not show me the way out of the wood?"
"Oh, certainly, Sir King," she replied, "but on one condition. If you do not fulfill it, you will never get out and will die of hunger."
"What is the condition?" asked the King.
"I have a daughter," said the old woman, "who is so beautiful she has not her equal in the world and is well fitted to be your wife. If you will make her your queen, I will show you the way."
The King, in his anguish, consented. The old woman led him to her little house where her daughter sat by the fire. She received the King as if expecting him. He saw she was beautiful but felt a secret horror. He lifted her onto his horse, the witch showed the way, and the King reached his palace where the wedding was celebrated.
The King had been married before and had seven children by his first wife: six boys and one girl, whom he loved dearly. Fearing their stepmother might harm them, he hid them in a lonely castle in the middle of the wood. The way was so hard to find that he needed a magic reel of thread from a wise-woman to guide him.
The new Queen grew curious about his frequent absences. She bribed his servants, learned the secret of the reel, and found where he kept it. Then, using witchcraft learned from her mother, she sewed enchantments into six little white shirts.
When the King rode off, she took the shirts and followed the thread to the castle. The children, seeing someone approach, joyfully ran to meet whom they thought was their father. The Queen threw a shirt over each boy. Upon touching them, they were changed into swans and flew away over the forest. Satisfied, the Queen returned home, unaware the girl had not run out with her brothers.
The next day, the King found only his daughter. "Where are your brothers?" he asked.
"Alas! dear father," she answered, "they have gone and left me alone." She told him she had seen them flying over the wood as swans and showed him the feathers they had dropped. The King mourned but did not suspect the Queen. Afraid for his daughter, he wanted to take her with him, but she, fearing the stepmother, begged to stay one more night.
The poor girl thought, "My home is no longer here; I will go and seek my brothers." That night, she fled into the forest. She ran until exhausted, then found a little hut with a room containing six little beds. Too afraid to lie on one, she crept under a bed.
At sunset, she heard a noise and saw six swans fly in the window. They stood on the floor, blew at each other, and their feathers and swan-skins fell off like shirts. The maiden recognized her brothers and crept out joyfully. Their reunion was brief.
"You cannot stay here," they said. "This is a den of robbers. We can only lay aside our swan skins for a quarter of an hour each evening. Then we are changed back."
"Can you not be freed?" she cried.
"The conditions are too hard," they said. "You must not speak or laugh for six years and must make six shirts for us out of star-flowers. If you utter a single word, all your labour is vain." As they finished speaking, the quarter-hour ended, and they flew away as swans.
The maiden was determined to free her brothers, even at the cost of her life. She left the hut, climbed a tree, and spent the night there. The next morning, she collected star-flowers and began to sew in silence.
She lived thus for some time until the king of that country was hunting in the forest. His hunters found her in the tree. They called to her, but she gave no answer. They pressed her, and she threw down her golden chain, then her girdle, her garters, and finally her dress, but they would not leave. They climbed the tree, brought her down, and led her to their king.
The King asked who she was in all the languages he knew, but she remained silent. Struck by her beauty and modest demeanor, he fell in love, wrapped her in his cloak, and brought her to his castle. He had her dressed in rich clothes, and her beauty shone. He decided, "I will marry this maiden and none other," and soon did so.
However, the King had a wicked mother who disapproved. "Who knows who this dumb girl is?" she said. "She is not worthy of a king."
After a year, when the young Queen had her first child, the old mother took it away and told the King the Queen had killed it. The King would not believe it. The same thing happened with the second child, and still the King doubted. But when the third child disappeared and the Queen, bound by her vow of silence, could not defend herself, the King was forced by law to condemn her to be burned at the stake.
The execution day was the last of the six years. The six shirts were done, save for the left sleeve of the last one. As she was led to the stake with the shirts on her arm, she saw six swans flying through the air. Her heart danced for joy. The swans fluttered low, and she threw the shirts over them. The swan-skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her, living and well—all but the youngest, who had a swan's wing instead of his left arm.
They embraced. The Queen then went to the astonished King and spoke: "Dearest husband, now I can speak. I am innocent and falsely accused." She told him of her stepmother's deceit and how her own mother-in-law had taken and hidden the children. The children were fetched, to the King's great joy, and the wicked mother came to no good end.
The King and Queen, with her six brothers, lived many years in happiness and peace.
中文翻译
从前，一位国王在一片大森林里打猎。他追捕猎物如此急切，以至于没有一个随从能跟上他。夜幕降临时，他发现自己迷路了。他看见一个摇头晃脑的老妇人向他走来；她是个女巫。
“好妇人，”他说，“你能告诉我走出森林的路吗？”
“哦，当然可以，国王陛下，”她回答，“但有一个条件。如果你不履行，你就永远走不出去，会饿死在这里。”
“什么条件？”国王问。
“我有一个女儿，”老妇人说，“她美丽得举世无双，完全配做你的妻子。如果你让她成为你的王后，我就给你指路。”
国王在痛苦中同意了。老妇人把他领到她的小屋，她的女儿正坐在炉火边。她接待国王的样子仿佛在等他。国王见她确实美丽，却感到一种隐秘的恐惧。他将她扶上马，女巫指了路，国王回到宫殿，婚礼随即举行。
国王曾结过婚，与第一任妻子生了七个孩子：六个男孩和一个女孩，他深爱着他们。因为害怕继母会伤害他们，他把孩子们藏在了森林深处一座孤寂的城堡里。路非常难找，以至于他需要一位智慧妇人给的一个神奇线团来引路。
新王后对他频繁的缺席感到好奇。她贿赂了他的仆人，得知了线团的秘密，并找到了他存放线团的地方。然后，她用从女巫母亲那里学来的巫术，将咒语缝进了六件小白衬衫里。
等国王骑马离开后，她拿着衬衫，跟着线团找到了城堡。孩子们看到有人来，以为是亲爱的父亲，欢快地跑过去迎接。王后给每个男孩扔了一件衬衫。衬衫一碰到他们，就把他们变成了天鹅，飞越森林而去。王后心满意足地回家了，不知道女孩并没有和哥哥们一起跑出来。
第二天，国王只找到了女儿。“你的哥哥们呢？”他问。
“唉！亲爱的父亲，”她回答，“他们走了，留下我孤身一人。”她告诉他，她从她的小窗户看到哥哥们变成了天鹅飞过森林，并给他看了他们掉在院子里的、她收集起来的羽毛。国王很悲痛，但没有怀疑王后。他担心女儿的安全，想带她走，但女儿害怕继母，恳求再住一晚。
可怜的姑娘想：“这里不再是我的家了；我要去寻找我的哥哥们。”当晚，她逃进了森林。她一直跑到筋疲力尽，然后发现了一个小茅屋，里面有一个房间，放着六张小床。她不敢躺上去，就爬到了一张床底下。
日落时分，她听到声响，看见六只天鹅从窗户飞进来。它们站在地板上，互相吹气，羽毛和天鹅皮像衬衫一样脱落下来。少女认出了她的哥哥们，高兴地爬了出来。他们的团聚很短暂。
“你不能待在这里，”他们说，“这是强盗窝。我们每晚只能脱下天鹅皮一刻钟，然后就会变回去。”
“你们不能被解救吗？”她哭着问。
“条件太苛刻了，”他们说，“你必须六年不说话也不笑，并且必须用星形花为我们缝制六件衬衫。如果你说一个字，所有的努力就白费了。”他们刚说完，一刻钟就到了，他们又变成天鹅飞走了。
少女决心解救哥哥们，即使付出生命。她离开茅屋，爬上一棵树，在那里过夜。第二天早上，她采集星形花，开始默默地缝制。
她这样生活了一段时间，直到这个国家的国王在森林里打猎。他的猎手们发现了树上的她。他们喊她，但她不回答。他们一再追问，她扔下了她的金项链，然后是腰带、袜带，最后是外裙，但他们仍不罢休。他们爬上树，把她带下来，领到国王面前。
国王用他知道的所有语言问她是谁，但她保持沉默。国王被她的美丽和端庄举止打动，爱上了她，用披风裹住她，带她回了城堡。他让人给她穿上华服，她的美貌光彩照人。他决定：“我要娶这位姑娘，非她不娶。”不久他们就结婚了。
然而，国王有一个邪恶的母亲，她不赞成这桩婚事。“谁知道这个哑巴女孩是谁？”她说，“她不配做国王的妻子。”
一年后，当年轻的王后生下第一个孩子时，老母亲把孩子抱走，并告诉国王是王后杀了孩子。国王不相信。第二个孩子遭遇了同样的事，国王仍然怀疑。但当第三个孩子失踪，而王后因守誓不能说话、无法为自己辩护时，国王不得不依法判处她火刑。
行刑日正是六年期限的最后一天。六件衬衫做好了，只差最后一件的左袖。当她手臂上搭着衬衫被带往火刑柱时，她看到六只天鹅飞过天空。她的心快乐得跳起舞来。天鹅低飞盘旋，她把衬衫扔向它们。天鹅皮脱落了，她的哥哥们站在她面前，鲜活而完好——除了最小的那个，他的左臂还是一只天鹅的翅膀。
他们互相拥抱。王后然后走向惊愕的国王，开口说道：“最亲爱的丈夫，现在我可以说话了。我是无辜的，是被诬告的。”她告诉了他继母的诡计，以及她的婆婆如何抱走并藏起了孩子们。孩子们被找了回来，国王大喜过望，而那个邪恶的母亲得到了应有的恶报。
国王和王后，以及她的六个哥哥，从此过上了许多年幸福安宁的生活。