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[[File:Felicitaskuhn.jpg|thumb|300px|Illustration from a 1991 version, by Felicitas Kuhn.]][http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/49sixswans.html The] [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm049.html Six] [https://www.grimmstories.com/language.php?grimm=049&l=en&r=es Swans] (in German : ''Die sechs Schwäne'') is a German fairy tale, collected by [[The Brothers Grimm]] . It's not the only one treating such a story, however: there's also a similar version told by the Danish writer [[Hans Christian Andersen]] [http://hca.gilead.org.il/wild_swa.html ("The Wild Swans"] ), one by the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe ([https://www.storiestogrowby.org/story/twelve-wild-ducks/ "Twelve Wild Ducks"] ), other two Grimm-collected stories ([https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm025.html The Seven Ravens] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Brothers The Twelve Brothers]), a Northern African tale ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/gy/gyfb17.htm "Udea and her Seven Brothers"] ), etc. All of them have a common plot at heart: a girl's older brothers are turned into animals, generally birds, and she must work hard save them.
 
[[File:Felicitaskuhn.jpg|thumb|300px|Illustration from a 1991 version, by Felicitas Kuhn.]][http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/49sixswans.html The] [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm049.html Six] [https://www.grimmstories.com/language.php?grimm=049&l=en&r=es Swans] (in German : ''Die sechs Schwäne'') is a German fairy tale, collected by [[The Brothers Grimm]] . It's not the only one treating such a story, however: there's also a similar version told by the Danish writer [[Hans Christian Andersen]] [http://hca.gilead.org.il/wild_swa.html ("The Wild Swans"] ), one by the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe ([https://www.storiestogrowby.org/story/twelve-wild-ducks/ "Twelve Wild Ducks"] ), other two Grimm-collected stories ([https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm025.html The Seven Ravens] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Brothers The Twelve Brothers]), a Northern African tale ([http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/gy/gyfb17.htm "Udea and her Seven Brothers"] ), etc. All of them have a common plot at heart: a girl's older brothers are turned into animals, generally birds, and she must work hard save them.
   
In this particular tale, six brothers from a King's first marriage are targeted by their [[Wicked Stepmother]], a witch who forced her way into their father's life with help from her evil mother and fellow witch. As a consequence, [[Baleful Polymorph|the brothers are transformed into swans]] and can can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. There's still hope for them, however: their little sister hasn't been enchanted, so they tell her that they've found out about a way to fix things: she must make six shirts out of nettles and can't make a sound for six years or the spell will never be broken. The girl accepts this and hides away in a hunter's hut, focusing only on her mission.
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In this particular tale, six brothers from a King's first marriage are targeted by their [[Wicked Stepmother]], a witch who forced her way into their father's life with help from her evil mother and fellow witch. As a consequence, [[Baleful Polymorph|the brothers are transformed into swans]] and can can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. There's still hope for them, however: their only sister hasn't been enchanted, so they tell her that they've found out about a way to fix things: she must make six shirts out of nettles (or other magical herbs / flowers) and can't make a sound for six years or the spell will never be broken. The girl accepts this and hides away in a hunter's hut, focusing only on her mission.
   
Some time later the young King of another country meets the girl in the forest, is taken by her beauty, and marries her despite his mother's objections to seeing a non-noble as Queen Consort, or how the protagonist keeps quietly working on the shirts. When the girl, now Queen, has given birth to their first child, the wicked mother-in-law takes away the child and accuses the Queen of killing and eating him; she cannot properly refute it, being unable to talk. She does this twice more to the protagonist, and her husband defends his wife as much as he can, but the third time is the limit and he can't do anything else. And all through her ordeals, the Queen stays quiet, and she won't stop knitting and sewing...
+
Some time later the young King of another country meets the girl in the forest, is taken by her beauty, and marries her despite his mother's objections to seeing a non-noble as Queen Consort, or how the protagonist keeps quietly working on the shirts. When the girl, now Queen, has given birth to their first child, the wicked mother-in-law takes away the child and accuses the Queen of killing and eating him; she cannot properly refute it, being unable to talk AND unwilling to reveal her past. She does this twice more to the protagonist, and her husband defends his wife as much as he can, but the third time is the limit and he can't do anything else. And all through her ordeals, the Queen stays quiet, and she won't stop knitting and sewing...
   
 
On the day of her execution, the Queen has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers. Only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake, she takes the shirts with her and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and the six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form. (Still, since the last shirt's left sleeve is missing, one of the youngest Prince's arms remains a swan wing.) The Queen is now free to speak and defend herself against the accusations, and she and her brothers tell the King and everyone else what's going on. The evil mother-in-law returns the babies she stole and raised in secret, and as punishment '''she''' is the one burned at the stake. From then on, the Royal Family and the brothers live their lives in happiness and peace.
 
On the day of her execution, the Queen has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers. Only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake, she takes the shirts with her and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and the six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form. (Still, since the last shirt's left sleeve is missing, one of the youngest Prince's arms remains a swan wing.) The Queen is now free to speak and defend herself against the accusations, and she and her brothers tell the King and everyone else what's going on. The evil mother-in-law returns the babies she stole and raised in secret, and as punishment '''she''' is the one burned at the stake. From then on, the Royal Family and the brothers live their lives in happiness and peace.
   
''The Six Swans'' has been re-made in one way or another several other times. i.e. an episode of the Japanese series ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'', the anime movie ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' (''The Wild Swans: The Princess of the Swans'', which mixes elements of both this and Andersen's versions), [[Juliet Marillier]]'s book ''[[Daughter of the Forest]] ''(the first one in ''[[The Sevenwaters Trilogy]]'')'','' etc.''' '''
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''The Six Swans'' has been re-made in one way or another several other times. i.e. [[Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics/Recap/The Six Swans|an episode]] of the Japanese series ''[[Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics]]'', the anime movie ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' (''The Wild Swans: The Princess of the Swans'', which mixes elements of both this and Andersen's versions), [[Juliet Marillier]]'s book ''[[Daughter of the Forest]] ''(the first one in ''[[The Sevenwaters Trilogy]]'')'','' etc.''' '''
 
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=== Provides examples of: ===
 
=== Provides examples of: ===
   
 
* [[Adult Fear]]: The King has a [[Gut Feeling]] that his new wife will try to hurt his children, so right before the wedding he sends them away to a small castle in the woods to keep them safe, visiting them in secret from then on. The stepmother finds out about the kids anyway via bribing the servants, and then she attacks and enchants the boys.
* [[Adult Fear]] :
 
** The King has a [[Gut Feeling]] that his new wife will try to hurt his children, so right before the wedding he sends them away to a small castle in the woods to keep them safe, visiting them in secret from then on. The stepmother finds out about the kids anyway via bribing the servants, and then she attacks and enchants the boys.
 
 
** The Princess herself not only loses her birthright and her family, but she almost loses her newborn babies and is falsely accused of killing and eating the children.
 
** The Princess herself not only loses her birthright and her family, but she almost loses her newborn babies and is falsely accused of killing and eating the children.
 
* [[Ascended Extra]]: The [[Wicked Stepmother]]'s [[Wicked Witch]] mom becomes this in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji, ''and since the wicked mother-in-law also disappears here, she and her daughter form a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] against the protagonist.
 
* [[Ascended Extra]]: The [[Wicked Stepmother]]'s [[Wicked Witch]] mom becomes this in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji, ''and since the wicked mother-in-law also disappears here, she and her daughter form a [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] against the protagonist.
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* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: Genderflipped: the sister (also said to be the youngest of all the royal kids) is the one who puts 'self through Hell to save her big brothers. They return the favor by playing the trope straight to save her when she's about to be executed.
 
* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: Genderflipped: the sister (also said to be the youngest of all the royal kids) is the one who puts 'self through Hell to save her big brothers. They return the favor by playing the trope straight to save her when she's about to be executed.
 
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: When the protagonist is about to die, the six years pass and then her brothers arrive all of a sudden to the execution place, saving her and proving that she's not a witch or a baby killer.
 
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: When the protagonist is about to die, the six years pass and then her brothers arrive all of a sudden to the execution place, saving her and proving that she's not a witch or a baby killer.
 
* [[Burn the Witch]]!: The protagonist is framed for infanticide and condemned to this, and barely escapes this fate thanks to her brothers.
* [[Burn the Witch]]!:
 
** The protagonist is framed for infanticide and condemned to this, and barely escapes this fate thanks to her brothers.
 
 
** The evil mother-in-law is burned at the stake for kidnapping her grandchildren and framing her daughter-in-law for it. This probably inspired the [[Wicked Stepmother]] 's [[Karmic Death]] in ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'', where she burns herself to death for using wind magic near the protagonist's not-fully-extinguished pyre. It's averted in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' where the [[Wicked Stepmother]] and her mother aren't executed, but instead are vanished into the desert.
 
** The evil mother-in-law is burned at the stake for kidnapping her grandchildren and framing her daughter-in-law for it. This probably inspired the [[Wicked Stepmother]] 's [[Karmic Death]] in ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'', where she burns herself to death for using wind magic near the protagonist's not-fully-extinguished pyre. It's averted in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' where the [[Wicked Stepmother]] and her mother aren't executed, but instead are vanished into the desert.
 
* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]: Elisa's trials in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' include her being subjected to this by the [[Wicked Witch]]'s mother, alias the one who officially accuses her of being a witch (as an expy of ''The Wild Swans''<nowiki/>'s archbishop). Even when she's being [[Agony of the Feet|stabbed through her feet]], the girl refuses to break her vow of silence.
 
* [[Cold-Blooded Torture]]: Elisa's trials in ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'' include her being subjected to this by the [[Wicked Witch]]'s mother, alias the one who officially accuses her of being a witch (as an expy of ''The Wild Swans''<nowiki/>'s archbishop). Even when she's being [[Agony of the Feet|stabbed through her feet]], the girl refuses to break her vow of silence.
  +
* [[Eats Babies]]: The main and most serious of all the accusations hurled at the princess by the evil mother-in-law.
* [[Cute Mute]]: One of the conditions that the lovely-looking main girl must fulfill to break the curse over her brothers is to not say a single word or show a single emotion for seven years.
+
* [[Elective Mute]]: One of the conditions that the lovely-looking main girl must fulfill to break the curse over her brothers is to not say a single word or show a single emotion for seven years.
 
* [[Emotionless Girl]]: The main girl is believed to be this by the court of the second kingdom, as she's not supposed to speak or laugh in the seven years.
 
* [[Emotionless Girl]]: The main girl is believed to be this by the court of the second kingdom, as she's not supposed to speak or laugh in the seven years.
 
* [[Fallen Princess]]: The protagonist and her brothers are first taken away from the court for their protection and confined to a small manor, then they're attacked by the [[Wicked Stepmother]] . The boys are transformed into swans and the girl must run away into the woods to begin her curse breaking mission without anyone bothering her.
 
* [[Fallen Princess]]: The protagonist and her brothers are first taken away from the court for their protection and confined to a small manor, then they're attacked by the [[Wicked Stepmother]] . The boys are transformed into swans and the girl must run away into the woods to begin her curse breaking mission without anyone bothering her.
  +
* [[Love at First Sight]]: The Young King, for the Princess.
 
* [[Named by the Adaptation]]: The protagonist is not named in the original tale. The name "Elise / Elisa", used in more recent adaptations like ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics ''or ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'', comes from "The Wild Swans" instead.
 
* [[Named by the Adaptation]]: The protagonist is not named in the original tale. The name "Elise / Elisa", used in more recent adaptations like ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics ''or ''Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji'', comes from "The Wild Swans" instead.
 
* [[Near Villain Victory]]: The protagonist is framed for infanticide three times by her evil mother-in-law, and after the third one, her husband can't protect her anymore and she's condemned to being burned at the stake. However, the swans arrive to both save her and prove her innocence. The mother-in-law returns the kids she stole and raised away and is executed instead; the heroine is officially pardoned and she and her family (husband, children and brothers) live happily from then on.
 
* [[Near Villain Victory]]: The protagonist is framed for infanticide three times by her evil mother-in-law, and after the third one, her husband can't protect her anymore and she's condemned to being burned at the stake. However, the swans arrive to both save her and prove her innocence. The mother-in-law returns the kids she stole and raised away and is executed instead; the heroine is officially pardoned and she and her family (husband, children and brothers) live happily from then on.
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* [[Obnoxious In-Laws]]: The villain of the second part is the girl's [[Rich Bitch]] of a mother-in-law, who thinks that a [[Cute Mute]] of muddled origins like her is not worthy of being a Queen. She goes as far as [[Frame Up|framing her to get her executed]], which gloriously backfires in the end.
 
* [[Obnoxious In-Laws]]: The villain of the second part is the girl's [[Rich Bitch]] of a mother-in-law, who thinks that a [[Cute Mute]] of muddled origins like her is not worthy of being a Queen. She goes as far as [[Frame Up|framing her to get her executed]], which gloriously backfires in the end.
 
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: In the second part, the mother-in-law frames the protagonist for supposedly murdering and [[Eats Babies|eating her babies]]. When the girl is rescued and exonerated, [[Self-Made Orphan|the King executes his own evil mother as punishment]]. (Presumably for treason and false testimony)
 
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: In the second part, the mother-in-law frames the protagonist for supposedly murdering and [[Eats Babies|eating her babies]]. When the girl is rescued and exonerated, [[Self-Made Orphan|the King executes his own evil mother as punishment]]. (Presumably for treason and false testimony)
  +
* [[Outnumbered Sibling]]: Six boys, one girl. But then the girl becomes the heroine of the tale...
 
* [[Plucky Girl]]: The princess endures all kinds of misfortunes with incredible, quiet courage and stays true to her goal of undoing the curse on her beloved brothers.
 
* [[Plucky Girl]]: The princess endures all kinds of misfortunes with incredible, quiet courage and stays true to her goal of undoing the curse on her beloved brothers.
 
* [[Rags to Royalty]]: The protagonist and her brothers starts as Snow Whites and switch to Goose Kids, first forced out of their noble positions in an attempt to protect them from the [[Wicked Stepmother]] and then definitely kicked out of the kingdom as the boys are enchanted and the girl runs into the forest to counteract the curse over her brothers. The princess then switches to a mix of Goose Girl and Cinderella: she marries a King due to her beauty (and he doesn't know she's a [[Fallen Princess]]), is targeted by her [[Rich Bitch]] of a mother-in-law and near executed as a result, and ultimately is restored when her innocence is proved.
 
* [[Rags to Royalty]]: The protagonist and her brothers starts as Snow Whites and switch to Goose Kids, first forced out of their noble positions in an attempt to protect them from the [[Wicked Stepmother]] and then definitely kicked out of the kingdom as the boys are enchanted and the girl runs into the forest to counteract the curse over her brothers. The princess then switches to a mix of Goose Girl and Cinderella: she marries a King due to her beauty (and he doesn't know she's a [[Fallen Princess]]), is targeted by her [[Rich Bitch]] of a mother-in-law and near executed as a result, and ultimately is restored when her innocence is proved.
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* [[Wicked Witch]] : The [[Wicked Stepmother]] and her mother. (But not the evil mother-in-law)
 
* [[Wicked Witch]] : The [[Wicked Stepmother]] and her mother. (But not the evil mother-in-law)
   
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=== The "Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics" version provides examples of: ===
 
 
[[File:The six swans.JPG|thumb|244x244px]]
 
 
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: In the original, the Stepmother never meets or attacks her stepchildren before turning the boys into swans. In this one there's a whole scene where she fails to endear herself to them, then another has her summon a huge snake against them at night.
 
* [[Adaptational Badass]]: The [[Wicked Stepmother]] is still a [[Wicked Witch]], but she possesses MANY powers that she didn't have in the original: she can [[Summon Magic|summon snakes]], [[Master of Illusion|cast illusions]], [[Blow You Away|use wind attacks]], etc.
 
* [[Adaptational Villainy]]:
 
** Elise's husband is a borderline example. In the original he tries ''three times'' to save her from being executed as a supposed witch and baby-killer, until he cannot do it anymore and she's set to be executed; in the anime these scenes are written out, save for one where [[Five Stages of Grief|he goes into denial]] and desperately tries to get Elise to tell him the truth. As such many viewers mistakenly think that he ALSO wants her to die, when in reality he's[[To Be Lawful or Good| caught between his love for his wife and his royal position.]] (As the King [[The Chains of Commanding|he must set an example to his citizens]], so letting an apparent "witch" and "baby-killing traitor" would '''destroy''' his authority. ''Especially'' when another sovereign, aka the [[Wicked Stepmother]], is present.)
 
** The Witch isn't only more powerful than in the original tale, but she's also ''even crueler'' if that's even possible.
 
* [[Ascended Extra]]:
 
** The [[Wicked Stepmother]] is FAR more important in the episode than in the tale itself.
 
** Elise and the Swan Princes' father also has a bigger role, even getting a [[Papa Wolf]] moment for his children as he attacks the gigantic snake that threatens them.
 
* [[Bishie Sparkle]]: Genderflipped example: Elise is the one who gets these [[Love at First Sight|when the Prince sees her for the first time]].
 
* [[Blush Sticker]]: Elise has these as a little girl, losing them in the [[Time Skip]].
 
* [[Bowdlerize]]:
 
** In this version, Elise manages to fully finish the shirts so her youngest brother isn't stuck with a swan wing for an arm.
 
** In the original, the Princess met the Young King's huntsmen when she was knitting and, trying to shoo them away, she thew her necklace and then her clothes at them until she was only in her shift / chemise, [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|back then equivalent to be in her underwear]]. The anime averts it via having Elise simply and quietly stare at the Young King and his group from her 'seat' and leaving them stunned with her good looks.
 
** Since the [[Wicked Witch]] replaces the cruel mother-in-law AND brings her [[Undignified Death]] onto herself, the King doesn't have to go the [[Self-Made Orphan]] way.
 
* [[But Now I Must Go]]: In the original, it's implied that the Princes stayed with the protagonist and her family rather than returning home. Here, the six leave Elise and her baby in the capable hands of the Young King and go back to their realm, intending to claim it as theirs and rebuild it now that the false Queen is dead.
 
* [[Composite Character]]: The [[Big Bad]] of the anime is a mix of the [[Wicked Stepmother]] from the first part and the [[Rich Bitch]] mother-in-law from the second.
 
* [[Crucified Hero Shot]]: Elise is tied up to a cross when she's about to be burned at the stake.
 
* [[Death by Adaptation]]: The King simply disappears from the original story after the boys are bewitched and Elise escapes. Here the Witch killed him and later gloated about it in front of a devastated Elise.
 
* [[Feminine Women Can Cook]]: Elise is a bitty [[Girly Girl]] and, during her and her brothers' days at the hidden manse, she's seen using a cauldron to make what seems to be a thick stew.
 
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]!: The [[Wicked Stepmother]] returns to the story as the (usurper) Queen of the land that Elise's brothers should reign over. At the end, the released Princes say that they will reclaim and rebuild it.
 
* [[Hot Dad]]: Elise's husband and the father of her baby is a cute-looking redhead youth.
 
* [[Hot Mom]]: When Elise has a kid, she looks as cute as when ''she'' was a kid - only older, of curse.
 
* [[Hello, Nurse!]]: The Young King and his courtiers react like this when they see Elise for the first time.
 
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Both Elise AND her husband have reddish hair, albeit in different tones of red.
 
* [[Karmic Death]]: The [[Wicked Stepmother]] tries to get Elise burned alive, but fails. Then she tries to attack everyone with her wind powers... while standing next to Elise's would-be pyre, which reignites and sets ''her'' ablaze. [[Undignified Death|For further humiliation]], the huge-ass cross that Elise was briefly bound to falls on the still-burning witch.
 
* [[Meet Cute]]: The Young King first sees Elise when she's knitting the capes while sitting on a huge branch of a tree. He first tells her to get off the tree so she won't fall off and hurt herself,[[Love At First Sight| then she looks at him]]...
 
* [[Named by the Adaptation]]: As said above, this particular rendition uses the name "Elise" for the originally unnamed princess.
 
* [[Parent with New Paramour]]: In the original, the trope is more or less averted since the King sends his kids away for safety ''before'' marrying the [[Hot Witch|Hot Witch.]] In the anime, however, there's a scene where the King introduces the [[Wicked Stepmother]] to Elise and her brothers: the kids are so uncomfortable with the new Queen's presence that they awkwardly refuse to acknowledge her as their new mother figure, prompting her to harshly scold them in front of the court... and to attack them that same night.
 
* [[Pragmatic Adaptation]]:
 
** Elise and her hubby have only one child, rather than three.
 
** The original has the brothers being able to retake their human forms briefly every day. Here, they stay as swans until they're de-enchanted [[Talking Animal|but retain their capacity for human speech]].
 
** The anime keeps the [[Wicked Stepmother]] as its biggest villain of the story, instead of dividing the [[Big Bad]] role between her and the evil mother-in-law like in the tale. [[God Save Us From the Queen|It also makes her far more powerful and influential than before.]]
 
* [[Princesses Prefer Pink]]: Elise's wardrobe almost always includes at least one pink piece.
 
* [[Red Headed Heroine]]: Elise is depicted as a redhead, as seen in the pictures.
 
* [[Red Right Hand]]: The [[Wicked Stepmother]] has blue marks on her cheeks.
 
* [[She Is All Grown Up]]: Elise goes from an adorable little girl to a gorgeous older teenager whose beauty stuns a king and his courtiers.
 
** Elise's brothers are cute-looking boys, and when they're released from the spell over them after six years, their older teen/young adult adult selves are VERY handsome.
 
* [[Spanner in the Works]]: ''A dropped cauldron'' allows Elise to become this and derail the plans of her [[Wicked Stepmother]]. At some point she's making stew in the kitchen of the hidden manse and hears that the King is coming, and in her excitement she drops said cauldron and is stuck cleaning up the mess... but in the meantime, her brothers go greet their father and are instead greeted by the Stepmother, who enchants them into swans. Had Elise not stayed behind, she would've been either killed or enchanted by the Witch...
 
* [[The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter]]: Physically speaking, the King is pretty plain-looking. His seven children, however, are very cute in their own ways, and as seen later they all grow up to be ''stunners.'' '''Especially''' [[Daddy's Girl|Elise]].
 
** The [[Wicked Stepmother]]'s Witch mother is an old crone, but her daughter is quite the [[Hot Witch]].
 
* [[Unlimited Wardrobe]]: Elise changes clothes many times in the story. She is first shown as a well-dressed little girl (whic includes a pink dress and a gold tiara), but later has to wear a simple peasant dress with a pink head-scarf as a [[Fallen Princess]]. When she marries she's again seen in regal clothes (now including a golden crown and a veil), then in a simple pink and red dress when she's about to be unfairly executed, and at the very end she's back to her regal outfit.
 
 
[[Category:Fairy Tale]]
 
[[Category:Fairy Tale]]
 
[[Category:The Six Swans]]
 
[[Category:The Six Swans]]

Revision as of 03:46, 4 January 2020

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Felicitaskuhn

Illustration from a 1991 version, by Felicitas Kuhn.

The Six Swans (in German : Die sechs Schwäne) is a German fairy tale, collected by The Brothers Grimm . It's not the only one treating such a story, however: there's also a similar version told by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen ("The Wild Swans" ), one by the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe ("Twelve Wild Ducks" ), other two Grimm-collected stories (The Seven Ravens and The Twelve Brothers), a Northern African tale ("Udea and her Seven Brothers" ), etc. All of them have a common plot at heart: a girl's older brothers are turned into animals, generally birds, and she must work hard save them.

In this particular tale, six brothers from a King's first marriage are targeted by their Wicked Stepmother, a witch who forced her way into their father's life with help from her evil mother and fellow witch. As a consequence, the brothers are transformed into swans and can can only take their human forms for fifteen minutes every evening. There's still hope for them, however: their only sister hasn't been enchanted, so they tell her that they've found out about a way to fix things: she must make six shirts out of nettles (or other magical herbs / flowers) and can't make a sound for six years or the spell will never be broken. The girl accepts this and hides away in a hunter's hut, focusing only on her mission.

Some time later the young King of another country meets the girl in the forest, is taken by her beauty, and marries her despite his mother's objections to seeing a non-noble as Queen Consort, or how the protagonist keeps quietly working on the shirts. When the girl, now Queen, has given birth to their first child, the wicked mother-in-law takes away the child and accuses the Queen of killing and eating him; she cannot properly refute it, being unable to talk AND unwilling to reveal her past. She does this twice more to the protagonist, and her husband defends his wife as much as he can, but the third time is the limit and he can't do anything else. And all through her ordeals, the Queen stays quiet, and she won't stop knitting and sewing...

On the day of her execution, the Queen has all but finished making the shirts for her brothers. Only the last shirt misses a left arm. When she is brought to the stake, she takes the shirts with her and when she is about to be burned, the six years expire and the six swans come flying through the air. She throws the shirts over her brothers and they regain their human form. (Still, since the last shirt's left sleeve is missing, one of the youngest Prince's arms remains a swan wing.) The Queen is now free to speak and defend herself against the accusations, and she and her brothers tell the King and everyone else what's going on. The evil mother-in-law returns the babies she stole and raised in secret, and as punishment she is the one burned at the stake. From then on, the Royal Family and the brothers live their lives in happiness and peace.

The Six Swans has been re-made in one way or another several other times. i.e. an episode of the Japanese series Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, the anime movie Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji (The Wild Swans: The Princess of the Swans, which mixes elements of both this and Andersen's versions), Juliet Marillier's book Daughter of the Forest (the first one in The Sevenwaters Trilogy), etc. 


Provides examples of:

  • Adult Fear: The King has a Gut Feeling that his new wife will try to hurt his children, so right before the wedding he sends them away to a small castle in the woods to keep them safe, visiting them in secret from then on. The stepmother finds out about the kids anyway via bribing the servants, and then she attacks and enchants the boys.
    • The Princess herself not only loses her birthright and her family, but she almost loses her newborn babies and is falsely accused of killing and eating the children.
  • Ascended Extra: The Wicked Stepmother's Wicked Witch mom becomes this in Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji, and since the wicked mother-in-law also disappears here, she and her daughter form a Big Bad Duumvirate against the protagonist.
  • Baleful Polymorph: Six young boys are unwillingly turned into swans via cursed shirts/capes.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Genderflipped: the sister (also said to be the youngest of all the royal kids) is the one who puts 'self through Hell to save her big brothers. They return the favor by playing the trope straight to save her when she's about to be executed.
  • Big Damn Heroes: When the protagonist is about to die, the six years pass and then her brothers arrive all of a sudden to the execution place, saving her and proving that she's not a witch or a baby killer.
  • Burn the Witch!: The protagonist is framed for infanticide and condemned to this, and barely escapes this fate thanks to her brothers.
    • The evil mother-in-law is burned at the stake for kidnapping her grandchildren and framing her daughter-in-law for it. This probably inspired the Wicked Stepmother 's Karmic Death in Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, where she burns herself to death for using wind magic near the protagonist's not-fully-extinguished pyre. It's averted in Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji where the Wicked Stepmother and her mother aren't executed, but instead are vanished into the desert.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Elisa's trials in Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji include her being subjected to this by the Wicked Witch's mother, alias the one who officially accuses her of being a witch (as an expy of The Wild Swans's archbishop). Even when she's being stabbed through her feet, the girl refuses to break her vow of silence.
  • Eats Babies: The main and most serious of all the accusations hurled at the princess by the evil mother-in-law.
  • Elective Mute: One of the conditions that the lovely-looking main girl must fulfill to break the curse over her brothers is to not say a single word or show a single emotion for seven years.
  • Emotionless Girl: The main girl is believed to be this by the court of the second kingdom, as she's not supposed to speak or laugh in the seven years.
  • Fallen Princess: The protagonist and her brothers are first taken away from the court for their protection and confined to a small manor, then they're attacked by the Wicked Stepmother . The boys are transformed into swans and the girl must run away into the woods to begin her curse breaking mission without anyone bothering her.
  • Love at First Sight: The Young King, for the Princess.
  • Named by the Adaptation: The protagonist is not named in the original tale. The name "Elise / Elisa", used in more recent adaptations like Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics or Sekai Meisaku Dōwa: Hakuchou no Õji, comes from "The Wild Swans" instead.
  • Near Villain Victory: The protagonist is framed for infanticide three times by her evil mother-in-law, and after the third one, her husband can't protect her anymore and she's condemned to being burned at the stake. However, the swans arrive to both save her and prove her innocence. The mother-in-law returns the kids she stole and raised away and is executed instead; the heroine is officially pardoned and she and her family (husband, children and brothers) live happily from then on.
    • More or less the same happens in the animated adaptations, involving less babies and either two witches (Sekai...) or the original Wicked Stepmother taking the place of the mother-in-law (Grimm's Fairy Tales)
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: The villain of the second part is the girl's Rich Bitch of a mother-in-law, who thinks that a Cute Mute of muddled origins like her is not worthy of being a Queen. She goes as far as framing her to get her executed, which gloriously backfires in the end.
  • Offing the Offspring: In the second part, the mother-in-law frames the protagonist for supposedly murdering and eating her babies. When the girl is rescued and exonerated, the King executes his own evil mother as punishment. (Presumably for treason and false testimony)
  • Outnumbered Sibling: Six boys, one girl. But then the girl becomes the heroine of the tale...
  • Plucky Girl: The princess endures all kinds of misfortunes with incredible, quiet courage and stays true to her goal of undoing the curse on her beloved brothers.
  • Rags to Royalty: The protagonist and her brothers starts as Snow Whites and switch to Goose Kids, first forced out of their noble positions in an attempt to protect them from the Wicked Stepmother and then definitely kicked out of the kingdom as the boys are enchanted and the girl runs into the forest to counteract the curse over her brothers. The princess then switches to a mix of Goose Girl and Cinderella: she marries a King due to her beauty (and he doesn't know she's a Fallen Princess), is targeted by her Rich Bitch of a mother-in-law and near executed as a result, and ultimately is restored when her innocence is proved.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Neither the Old King nor his wife appear in the second part of the original story, after the protagonist runs off to save herself and undo the curse.
  • Wicked Stepmother : The King's wife from the first part. She disappears from the story after the protagonist runs away, but in the Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics version she reappears by "paying a visit" to her and her husband when they have their first (and in this version, only) child, taking up the role of the original's jealous mother-in-law when she recognizes the prince's wife as her stepdaughter.
  • Wicked Witch : The Wicked Stepmother and her mother. (But not the evil mother-in-law)