a clew of yarn, possessing wonderful
properties, that a wise woman had given him; when he threw it down
before him, it unrolled itself and showed him the way. And the king went
so often to see his dear children, that the queen was displeased at his
absence; and she became curious and wanted to know what he went out into
the wood for so often alone. She bribed his servants with much money,
and they showed her the secret, and told her of the clew of yarn, which
alone could point out the way; then she gave herself no rest until she
had found out where the king kept the clew, and then she made some
little white silk shirts, and sewed a charm in each, as she had learned
witchcraft of her mother. And once when the king had ridden to the hunt,
she took the little shirts and went into the wood, and the clew of yarn
showed her the way. The children seeing some one in the distance,
thought it was their dear father coming to see them, and came jumping
for joy to meet him. Then the wicked queen threw over each one of the
little shirts, and as soon as the shirts touched their bodies, they were
changed into swans, and flew away through the wood. So the queen went
home very pleased to think she had got rid of her step-children; but the
maiden had not run out with her brothers, and so the queen knew nothing
about her. The next day the king went to see his children, but he found
nobody but his daughter.

"Where are thy brothers?" asked the king.

"Ah, dear father," answered she, "they are gone away and have left me
behind," and then she told him how she had seen from her window her
brothers in the guise of swans fly away through the wood, and she showed
him the feathers which they had let fall in the courtyard, and which she
had picked up. The king was grieved, but he never dreamt that it was
the queen who had done this wicked deed, and as he feared lest the
maiden also should be stolen away from him, he wished to take her away
with him. But she was afraid of the step-mother, and begged the king to
let her remain one more night in the castle in the wood.

Then she said to herself,

"I must stay here no longer, but go and seek for my brothers."

And when the night came, she fled away and went straight into the wood.
She went on all that night and the next day, until she could go no
longer for weariness. At last she saw a rude hut, and she went in and
found a room with six little beds in it; she did not dare to lie down in
one, but