Chapter 1
Long ago in a far kingdom there lived a queen.
She had a son. On the day before the prince was eighteen years old the queen said to him: “You are grown up enough, my son, to find you a bride1 who will one day sit at your side on the throne2.”
However, the prince had not thought of getting married at all. “Don't trouble me with it, Mum,” he answered and looked out of the window at the trees bending in the wind.
“But you must get married, my son,” the queen insisted. “What would the subjects say about their king being without a queen?”
The prince sighed heavily.
“So, what am I to do, mum?” he asked.
“I'll arrange everything myself,” said the queen. “But you must obey me.”
The prince sighed for the second time. “Well, mum, I'll do as you say. But I'd better go hunting today.”
“Enjoy your youth while you have it,” the queen smiled. “But remember that tomorrow I'm going to arrange a great party, inviting the nicest maidens of all the best families we have in our country. And from among them you'll have to choose your bride.”
“You may choose her for me yourself!” the prince exclaimed, being glad to end the conversation. “The wind, the far land, the steed3, the bow, and the forests are dearer to me!” And the queen saw no more of him. Taking his favorite companion Beppo and some of the equipage4 the prince left everything and went hunting.
They sat in the saddle all day long, but the prince had no gladness in hunting, galloping5 wildly through the meadows6. Something depressed7 him, but he didn't know what it was.
When at last in the evening the prince and his companions grew tired and were going back exhausted, they all at once found themselves near the Stone Grove. This was the forest about which there were such terrible stories told that no one dared to go there.
At the sight of the forest terror overcame them all. Even the horses pricked up8 their ears seeing the dark wall of oaks, which looked as if hewed9 from stone.
“Just look, Beppo!” the prince cried suddenly to his companion, pointing at the darkling sky.
“They are swans, what else do you think they can be?” asked Beppo, shrugging10 slightly. “But don't you see that one in front?” cried the prince. “You too have grown pale, Beppo, haven't you? It has a golden crown on its head! Those are not swans at all!”
“Indeed,” Beppo agreed.
These swans were strange, and most strange was the one that led them. They reminded one of white clouds, floating quickly across the sky.
“I must have this one!” cried the prince. “The Swan-Queen can be seen only once in a lifetime, and most people don't see her at all.”
Grief11 filled his heart. The prince drew his bow. But the flock12 had already vanished13 into the depth of the wood.
The hunters dismounted14
and ran into the forest. There they were overcome by an awful silence. The great oaks reminded them of cliffs15. And the moss16 was like a thick carpet. They made their way through the thicket, not knowing where they were going.
Suddenly Beppo pointed forward:
“A lake!”
A silver mirror glinted17 in the dusk among the trees. The hunters drew apart the last branches of the thicket and stopped on the beach, wonder-stricken. A flock of white swans with long lithe18 necks were swimming in the lake, and at their head, towering above the water mirror, glided the most beautiful, the most mysterious, and therewith19, the gravest20 swan with a golden crown on it's head.
The prince drew his bow, but he had to lower it again.
“I can't shoot!” he groaned21.” “It seems to me that I'd be killing a human being. It isn't a swan, Beppo. It's a beautiful maiden. That is the princess, whom I seek, that is my bride!”
“Are you mad, Prince!” Beppo scolded him.“ It was not long ago when you were overjoyed with our wild galloping and now you talk like this! Has something enchanted22 you? They say that the Stone Grove is woven of witchery23”.
“The Queen of the swans has enchanted me,” the prince whispered, and the reflection24 of the lake with the flock of white swans glinted in his eyes.
“Look how beautiful she is! Like a snow-white, gently inflated25 sail! Like the uneasy nights, in the darkness of which I woke and something inexpressible26 pushed me to the night window to look at the Moon as it was floating through the clouds...Do you see? Now they are ready to go away. They are taking off!”
And so it was. In the dusk27 the swans unfolded28 their wings and stretched their necks forward. The darker it became the whiter they seemed. The whitest was the swan wearing the golden crown that glinted in the setting sun. The queen of the swans took off into the air like a white waft29 of air, and the prince was dazzled30.
“She is flying to us!” he exclaimed suddenly. “She's noticed us!”
The queen of swans flew right towards them. But just as she neared them she changed course, swerved31 and flew high above the lake. The others followed her as if she pulled them behind her on an unseen thread.
“I'll run after her, I can't lose her!” cried the prince. And Beppo tried to hold him back in vain32. The others had no time to look round before the prince had disappeared into the shadow of the forest.
“What shall we do?” said Beppo helplessly to his companions, seeing that he couldn't overtake33 the prince.
“We'll seek him,” said an old well-tried archer34. “I think we'll find him at the edge of the forest.”
“He has fallen in love with a swan,” the old hunter laughed. “With their queen! Who has ever heard the like? The queen is beautiful and graceful, but she loves nobody. She has cold eyes, and loves only cool water. She never can give the prince an heir35.”
“For she is a real swan, nevertheless,” added Beppo.
Soon the hunters made their way through the thicket towards where they thought they could find the prince.
Only the moon lighted their way.
Chapter 2
The moon glinted like silver in the sky, and it could be seen how the prince hurried after it. He went steadily in the direction whither36 the swans were flying.
Suddenly the forest thinned. In the pale moonlight the ruins of Stone Castle were seen.
The prince sat on a stone to have a rest.
Frightened, he thought, “How will I find her here in this wild dark forest, if I don't know where she is hiding?”
Helplessly he looked up at the moon, which answered him with a cold unmoving stare. He turned to the oaks, which stood like a silent crowd of servants, waiting for an order.
Just then it seemed to him that he saw something new among them. A beautiful maiden stood before the prince.
He spoke to her. And to his surprise the maiden replied. Most of all he was amazed that she talked to him as to a close friend, as if they had played together in childhood.
“I was like all maidens, my prince”, she said. But the master of this bewitched37 grove38 turned me into a swan in revenge39. And all the girls of my retinue40, too.”
“Is there a master in the Stone Grove?”
“Yes, Readbeard,” she asserted41. “Oh, if you only knew, how cruel and evil he is.”
“Then you are not a swan!” the prince said gladly. “But how has it come about that I see you now in your real image?”
“Every night we can take on a human image. But then we become twice as miserable when the white witchery wraps round us again. Our arms become numb42 and covered with feathers, our necks stretch out and we turn into swans.”
“Poor thing,” said the prince, deeply touched, “Can I help you somehow? What's your name? I want to call you by it...”
“Odette, my prince.”
“Odette!” the prince repeated. “Don't be afraid now. I'm here with you and I'll never leave you.”
“You've understood nothing, my prince,” Odette said sadly, “We'll turn into swans in a moment again and you have no wings.”
“I'll release you from the spell43!”.
“You can do nothing against the witchcraft, prince.”
“But can't a human being overcome the power of evil?”
“It's possible, but you would have to...” and Odette paused.
“What must I do? I'll do anything,” promised the prince.
“You'd have to give the dearest thing a human being can give —love,” Odette whispered and looked down.
“But I do love you!” the prince cried, his eyes shining, and he squeezed44 her hands.
But Odette smiled gravely. “When tomorrow comes and you see other beautiful maidens from honourable families, you'll choose yourself a bride and will forget me.”
“I don't want anyone but you, Odette!” the prince exclaimed. “I'll save you by my love!”
But at that moment before his eyes she began to turn into a white phantom45 and then faded away46 like a misty haze47.
The prince was turning around calling her. He couldn't see her, she didn't answer him. He was all alone among the silent woods.
He heard men's voices very close to him, and silhouettes48 appeared among the oaks. These were Beppo and with him the prince's retinue.
“Here you are, Prince!” they rejoiced49. “We were already afraid we wouldn't find you!”
To their amazement, the prince interrupted them sharply, “Stand still. I want to hear what my white swan is saying to me.” Everybody thought the prince had gone mad.
But he really heard faintly a maiden's voice. And while his retainers50 thought he was taking the moon for a swan, the prince heard the tender voice:
“I'd like to be a wax candle in a bright candlestick tomorrow, so that my hot tears could fall to your feet when you are embracing51 another maiden....”
The prince heard nothing more and looked round in vain.
His companions tried to distract52 him with a joke.
“So, your arrow has not been shot, yet,” Beppo made an attempt to joke.
“I shot at the Queen of the swans, but the arrow came back and pierced53 my own heart,” the prince retorted54 thoughtfully.
“We must hurry. It is late, and the Queen is sure to be worried ,” remarked an old archer when they mounted their horses at the edge of the forest.
Chapter 3
The next day, towards evening, when everything in the castle was being prepared for the great party, the villagers saw a big white swan making several circles above the castle. Only the court jester55 in the castle saw it, but he did not talk of it.
At last the party began. The windows of the dance hall reflected the light of many thousands of candles. On the golden throne sat the Queen talking to her son, who seemed to be rather absent-minded.
“Look, how many beautiful maidens are here,” the Queen said, “These are daughters of nobles. Do you like any of them?”
“I don’t know exactly, Mother!” replied the prince, who seemed lost in thought.
“I’d like you to invite one of them to dance.” At first the prince hesitated, but then he obeyed the Queen.
He danced with one of the beauties for a while.
“Well, my son,” the Queen asked, when the prince came back.
“She was beautiful, but to me she seemed like a hothouse56 flower.”
“But you must not speak like that,” the Queen began to reprove57 him. “I’d better choose myself. Look, there is a maiden, dance with her! Spanish wine runs in her veins58!”
The prince went and invited the girl to dance, but in a minute returned.
“Well, did you like her?”
“I don't like Spanish wine, Mother...”
“You are impossible,” the Queen said. “Just look around! You won't find finer maidens in the whole world. Look over there. I'd like that one myself, if I were a prince! She has blue eyes, like an unclouded Italian sky over the soft sea, and she moves like a boat, swaying on the waves.”
“I prefer lakes to the sea, Mother,” the prince sighed, “However, if you like...”
“Well, my son?” asked the Queen when he returned again. “The unclouded sky is very monotone59, and the boat can't be compared with the swan,” answered the prince.
Now the queen grew really angry.
“I tell you for the last time, my son!” she shouted at him, “Think of the guests! How dare you to be so stubborn? And why on earth do you always talk of swans?”
At that moment she was interrupted by a piece of news. “Some honourable guests have just arrived, Your Majesty!” All those present looked at the door, through which unexpected guests would walk.
It was obviously a nobleman. An unbelievably slim, beautiful maiden, all in black, walked beside him. They stood before the Queen's throne.
“Baron Redbeard60 has the honour to bow before Your Majesty!”, and the baron bowed low. Then he lifted his head proudly and pointed at the dark beauty, “Your Majesty, this is my only daughter!”
The prince glanced at them, but suddenly started... The maiden was Odette!
“Well, my son, ask our dear beauty to dance. I want you to like her this time,” smiled the Queen.
Indeed, it was unnecessary now to beg the prince. He was dancing with the beauty, forgetting everything!
The prince danced and felt as happy as he'd never felt before. “Odette!”, he whispered to the beauty, being quite sure she was the very maiden he had seen yesterday in the forest, “I’m so glad you've come!”
“My name is Odile,” the dark beauty corrected him.
“Really?!” said the prince , puzzled. “It seemed to me yesterday you said it was Odette !”
“Yesterday is not today, Prince,” smiled Odile, “The strange thing happens at twilight61, and we often see things differently in the light of day.”
The prince didn't see anything wrong in her words. He even began to believe that his yesterday's adventure was only a dream, and he thought that he was seeing Odette—Odile for the first time that very moment.
“So it was a dream,” said the prince to the dark beauty.
“Of course!” replied she and looked at him intently62. At that look the prince trembled for a moment, but then his heart was relieved and he forgot all his doubts. And they continued to dance happily.
Chapter 4
Meanwhile, the party was coming to an end. Musicians played for the last time.
“Please, don’t stop, give me the last dance,” the prince begged Odile. She agreed and they went on dancing.
Just of a sudden a drop of hot wax from one of the candles fell onto the prince's foot. He almost slipped. It was as if something burned his heart, but he didn't understand what it was.
Just then the court jester came up to the dancing couple.
“Be careful, prince. You might have slipped, but you could lose something worse than balance!” he exclaimed. “Black cats bring misfortune63!”
“What do you mean?” asked the prince roughly. But Odile got the meaning quite well. “Would it better to stop?” she asked.
“Oh no!” the prince pleaded64. “I won't let you go, Odile,” he cried. “What do you mean by that?” asked the beauty as if she was puzzled.
“I mean that you have come to be my queen!”
He said this so loudly that everyone in the hall heard. There was a sudden hush65. The only words which broke the silence were: “Then you must swear!” The dark beauty stood proudly in the centre of hall and everyone stared at her and the prince. “I swear!” he answered.
As soon as he said it the wind rushed into the ballroom and all the candles went out. In the resulting gloom66 the guests saw that Odile had turned from a fine maiden into an ugly old woman who shrilled67 “You have sworn!” and then laughed loudly.
Redbeard came up to Odile and took her by the hand. “Go, he himself will come to you now!” Then he stamped his feet and immediately they vanished.
By and by68 the servants lit the candles again. All started to look for the prince, but he was nowhere to be seen. Only the jester saw a quick shadow run through the palace and out towards the forest.
“Search for him at the lake,” he cried. Straight away the queen ordered Beppo and some other brave men to go and find the prince. And a small company set out.
Meanwhile the prince had reached the lake. There he saw Odette and her maidens in human form. “Odette!” he cried and stretched out his hands to her. “I've been waiting for you,” she replied, “I'm glad to see you, but I have to say you farewell69!”
“But can't we be together? Forever now?” asked the prince.
“Alas, no! You should not have sworn, my prince,” was the answer. “But I was sure I was plighting my troth70 to you!” cried the prince.
“Only a true and pure love could have saved me, alas...”
“Oh, poor Odette! I have made you suffer so much! But I'll break this cursed spell!” and the prince tore the golden crown off her head, assuming71 that Odette could not then be turned into a swan, and threw it into the lake.
Odette had no time to stop him. The crown fell into the water, but it didn't sink.
“What have you done? You've put me completely under their power !” Odette cried, “The crown guarded my life, and now I'm to die...”
She grew pale and weak. She swayed and the prince caught her only at the last moment. “I'll defend you,” he said gently.
“Look, they are already here...,” Odette breathed faintly, “As soon as they lay hold of the crown, my life will be over.”
Suddenly a giant owl72 appeared out of the darkness. It flew to the lake, came down and seized the golden crown with its beak73. The prince ran to the lake, wishing to rush into the water and rob the owl of the trophy74. But the owl had gone before he could do anything. When he came back to Odette, she was lying on the ground.
“Thou75, fool!” he heard suddenly a shrill and waspish voice76 coming somewhere from behind him. “Did you want to foil77 my plans?...Get out of here, if you hold life dear!...”
The prince turned round and saw Redbeard.
“Oh, it is you! I'm not afraid of you in the least!” the prince said firmly, stepping forward. “Do not think that for fear of you I'll leave Odette,” and he challenged the demon to fight, “Go away off the forest. You'll find nothing inside my domain78!”
Redbeard rushed at the prince, fought bravely. It was a hard battle. But the power of pure love was with the prince, and there is no other power in the world stronger than that.
At last Redbead was defeated. The moment he fell to the ground a thunderclap79was heard and the demon and the owl disappeared into the grey mist.
The prince ran to the place where Odette lay. He stooped80 to her and kissed her gently. Just then her eyes opened wide. She looked at him and a faint smile appeared on her lips, “You've saved my life... and yours as well!”
1. bride [braid] n． 新娘
2． throne n． 王位
3． steed n． 骏马
4． equipage n． 装备及随从
5． gallop v． 飞驰
6． meadow n． 草地
7． depress v． 使……沮丧
8． prick up 竖起
9． hew v． 削
10． shrug v． 耸肩
11． grief n． 忧伤
12． flock n． 群
13． vanish v． 消失
14． dismount v． 下马
15． cliff [klif] n． 悬崖
16． moss n． 苔藓
17． glint [glint] v． 闪烁
18． lithe adj． 柔软的，易弯的
19． therewith adv． 随后，于是
20． grave adj． 庄重的
21． groan v． 叹息
22． enchant v． 施魔法，使迷惑
23． the Stone Grove is woven of witchery 那石林是巫术造就的。
24． reflection n． 倒影，反射
25． inflated adj． 张开的，膨胀的
26． inexpressible adj． 难以形容的
27． dusk n． 黄昏， 薄暮
28． unfold v． 打开，展开
29． waft n． 一股，一阵
30． dazzled adj． 目眩的，茫然的
31． swerve v． 突然转向
32． in vain 徒劳
33． overtake v． 追上
34． archer n． 弓箭手
35． heir n． 继承人
36． whither adv． 到哪里
37． bewitched adj． 被施魔法的
38． grove n． 小树林
39． in revenge 作为复仇
40． retinue n． 随行人员
41． assert v． 断言
42． numb adj． 麻木的
43． I＇ll release you from the spell． 我要把你从魔法中解救出来。
44． squeeze v． 压紧，握紧
45． phantom n． 幻影
46． fade away 消退
47． haze [heiz] n． 薄雾
48． silhouette n． 轮廓
49． rejoice v． 欣喜， 高兴
50． retainer n． 扈从，家臣
51． embrace v． 拥抱
52． distract v． 转移
53． pierce v． 刺穿
54． retort v． 反驳
55． court jester 宫廷小丑
56． hothouse n． 温室
57． reprove v． 责备
58． vein [vein] n． 血脉
59． monotone adj． 单调的
60． Baron Redbeard 红胡子男爵
61． twilight n． 黎明， 微光
62． intently adv． 专心地
63． misfortune n． 不幸，灾祸
64． plead v． 恳求
65． hush n． 安静
66． gloom n． 阴暗
67． shrill v． 尖声叫
68． by and by 过了一会儿，不久
69． farewell n． 再见，辞别
70． I was plighting my troth to you! 我向你发誓！plight [plait] v． 保证，约定
troth n． 誓言
71． assume v． 使确信，使放心
72． owl n． 猫头鹰
73． beak n． 鸟嘴
74． trophy n． 奖品，战利品
75． thou 你（古体）
76． a shrill and waspish voice 一种刻毒的尖声 waspish adj． 尖刻的
77． foil v． 阻止，挫败
78． domain n． 领地， 领域
79． thunderclap n． 雷声，霹雳声 80． stoop v． 弯下腰