Swan Lake

The Legend of the Children of the Lir

Long ago in Ireland lived a King, a Queen, and their four children. After the Queen died, the loving King decided that his children need a Mother to love and care for them. The King, as a result, married the Queen’s sister who soon become jealous of the children's love for their Father and dead Mother. She plotted to kill the children but could not follow through with it. She instead pulled out her wand and turned the four children into swans for 900 years. Although she did not take away the children’s voices, the only way that the curse could be broken is by a monk. After 900 years, the swans heard a bell and followed the sound. They found where the bell was coming from and were turned back into humans. However, since they were over 900 years old they immediately died of old age and lived a happy life in heaven with their Mother and Father.

The Six Swans

This tale begins with a King who was hunting in the woods. In the midst of his concentration, he got lost and could find no way of returning back. He ran into an old woman who said that she would help him find her way back if he marries her daughter. The King agreed to this deal, but grew worrisome of his seven children back at the castle and what his new wife might do to them. In response, he hid his seven children in a castle in the woods away from his new wife, and used a ball of magic yarn to find his way to them. The queen soon got suspicious of where the King was running off to so often and ordered servants to follow him. She sewed up some silk shirts, stole the magic yarn, and went to the castle and put the children in the silk shirts. They immediately turned into swans. However, one daughter did not go out to greet her and still remained a human. After the queen left, the daughter went into the woods to find her brothers where they told her that the only way to break the curse was to be quiet for 6 years and then make them shirts out of starwort. She climbed up a tree to begin sewing, when a group of hunters came and saw her. One of them was a king, who grew very fond of her and took her home to marry her. The Mother of the King, however, did not like the King’s new wife and her silence. She accused the King’s wife of killing all of the children that she bore, and by the third child convinced the King to believe her. The King’s wife was sentenced to death. However, by this time the six years had gone by and the King’s wife was almost done with the shirt, except for one sleeve on one of the shirts. Just as she was about to be exiled, she was able to speak and she told the King what had happened. She put the shirts on her brothers, and they all turned back into humans, except for the one arm that was left unfinished. The Mother of the King was found guilty and killed. The rest of the characters lived a long and happy life.

 

Wild Swans

In a faraway kingdom a King with 11 princes and 1 princess decided to remarry. He married a witch who turns the children into swans out of spite. However, the daughter, named Elisa, was too kind and her goodness overpowered the curse. The brothers carried Elisa over to a foreign country where the Queen could not reach her. There, Elisa found out that if she were to knit a shirt out of knettle, the curse can be broken as long as she took a vow of silence. The King of another country stumbled across her while she was knitting one day and fell inlove with her. However, the Archibishop was convinced that Elisa was a witch and puts her up for trial. Since Elisa could not speak, she has no way to defend herself. However, Elisa kept knitting determined to break the curse. Suddenly, the swans swept down and rescued Elisa, causing the people to believe that Elisa was innocent. However, the executors were still suspicious. Until Elisa threw the shirts on the swans and they turned back into humans. As Elisa began to gain her voice back to tell the truth, she suddenly fainted in front of the fire that was supposed to kill her. Miraculously, the fire turned into flowers and she survived. The King picked up one of the flowers, gave it to Elisa, and they got married.

 

The White Duck

“The plot of the tale follows a king who leaves his new wife for a journey, warning her to be careful in his absence. A woman lures her into the garden and into a pool, and turns her into a white duck, taking the queen's own form and place, the king returning to the impostor. The duck soon laid three eggs, two ducklings and an ugly drake born of them; the duck warns the three of the witch and to avoid her.

One day the witch managed to lure the three inside; however, she waited for the ducklings to fall asleep before slaying them. The drake escaped, having stayed awake. The white duck found the bodies and lamented the deaths and the king discovered it, the duck returning to the form of a woman in his presence. The returned queen tells the king of what had happened and he seeks out magical aid, using magical water to revive the killed ducklings and turn them and the drake into three human children. The witch is then condemned by the king and executed by dismemberment.”

-Afanasyev, Alexander. "The White Duck (Literature) - TV Tropes." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.

 

Music Inspiration for Swan Lake

The composer of Swan Lake, Pyotr  Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was believed to have had two composers as inspirations for the music of Swan Lake. They were Leo Delibes and Richard Wagner. Leo Delibes was a French composer that was known for his music in the ballets Coppelia and Sylvia. Richard Wagner was a German composer that inspired Tchaikovsky mainly with his music from the opera Lohengrin.