In the Völsunga saga, King Agnar withholds Brynhild's magical swan shirt, thus forcing her into his service as his enforcer. However he fashions wings for himself and escapes with Swanhilde as the house of the Neidings is destroyed.Īnother tale concerns valkyrie Brynhild. When Wieland searches for Swanhilde, they entrap and cripple him. Wieland's enemies, the Neidings, under Princess Bathilde, steal the ring, kidnap Swanhilde and destroy Wieland's home. But wounded by a spear, Swanhilde falls to earth and is rescued by the master-craftsman Wieland, and marries him, putting aside her wings and her magic ring of power. Swanhilde and her sisters are however able to fly as swans. In Germanic heroic legend, the stories of Wayland the Smith describe him as falling in love with Swanhilde, a Swan Maiden, who is the daughter of a marriage between a mortal woman and a fairy king, who forbids his wife to ask about his origins on her asking him he vanishes. Like the international legend, their magic swan-shirt allows their avian transformation. In Germanic mythology, the character of the swan maiden is associated with "multiple Valkyries", a trait already observed by Jacob Grimm in his book Deutsche Mythologie ( Teutonic Mythology). Edwin Sidney Hartland indicated the occurrence of the second opening episode in tales from Arabic folklore. Īs for the second episode, it may be known as "The Forbidden Chamber", in folkloristic works. 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 on, 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. ![]() ![]() Legend Typical legend The hunter recognizes his bride amongst the parade of identical maidens. There are also many parallels involving creatures other than swans. There are parallels around the world, notably the Völundarkviða and Grimms' Fairy Tales KHM 193 " The Drummer". In folktales of this type, the male character spies the maiden, typically by some body of water (usually bathing), then snatches away the feather garment (or some other article of clothing), which prevents her from flying away (or swimming away, or renders her helpless in some other manner), forcing her to become his wife. The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached. The swan maiden is a mythical creature who shapeshifts from human form to swan form. In the Völundarkviða, Wayland Smith and his brothers marry valkyries who dress in swan skins. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points.
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