In despair, Eitaro ran into the forest to hide. He wandered around for hours, until he grew very thirsty. Finding a lake at the edge of the forest, he knelt down to drink...
...and gasped in horror at the face he saw in the water.
The face gasped too. It was his own reflection.
"The King did this to me." he cried.
Eitaro quickly washed his face and combed his hair with his fingers. When he had finished, he looked like himself again.
By now the sun was beginning to set, Eitaro shivered and looked around to see where he might spend the night. Something in the distance caught his eye, a group of swans was flying over the trees.
The swans flew closer and closer as the sun sank into the west. They landed on the lake.
They shook their wings and—Eitaro's astonishment.
Suddenly instead of swans, his sisters stood before him. Eitaro was overjoyed when they had all finished hugging.
Princess Junko told him what had happened.
"The King's spell turned us into swans," she explained. "But we become human again at night. We can visit our old home only once a year. Tomorrow we must fly away."
"If you're going I'm coming," Eitaro decided.
Eitaro and his sisters spent all night weaving a net of rushes so the swans could be able to carry him when they flew.
It was nearly dawn by the time, they finished, Eitaro was so tired, he just lay down where he was and fell asleep.
YOU ARE READING
The Swan Prince
AdventureEleven sisters who have been turned into swans by their evil stepfather are saved by their handsome brother, Prince Eitaro.
