Researcher Barbara Fass Leavy noted a variation of the first opening episode - described above -, which occurs in Scandinavian tales: a man's third or only son stands guard on his father's fields at night to discover what has been trampling his father's fields, and sees three maidens dancing in a meadow. Romanian folklorist Marcu Beza drew attention to two other introductory episodes: (1) seven white birds steal the golden apples from a tree in the king's garden (an episode similar to German The Golden Bird), or, alternatively, they come and trample the fields (2) the hero receives a key and, against his master's wishes, opens a forbidden chamber, where the bird maidens are bathing. At some point later in the story, the mother is convinced or forced to give back the hidden clothing and, as soon as the swan maiden puts it, she glides towards the skies – which prompts the quest. In many versions, although the man is unmarried (or, very rarely, a widower), he is aided by his mother, who hides the maiden's magical garment (or feather cloak). If the husband is able to find her again, it is an arduous quest, and often the impossibility is clear enough so that he does not even try.
Although the children may grieve her, she does not take them with her. The swan maiden immediately gets her robe and disappears to where she came from. When the children are older they sing a song about where their father has hidden their mother's robe, or one asks why the mother always weeps, and finds the cloak for her, or they otherwise betray the secret. A young, unmarried man steals a magic robe made of swan feathers from a swan maiden who comes to bathe in a body of water, so that she will not fly away, and marries her.
The folktales usually adhere to the following basic plot. Illustration from Jacobs's Europa's Fairy Book by John D. The hunter recognizes his bride amongst the parade of identical maidens. 6 The celestial maiden or heavenly bride.5.3.9.1.3 South America: The Vulture Wife.1.4.3 Literary fairy tales ( Kunstmärchen) and other works.1.3 Swan maiden as daughter or servant to an antagonist.
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