The Swan Prince

Chapter 6: Nettle kimonos

The next day, instead of a wedding, there was a trial. Eitaro was brought before the judge in chains.

The Archbishop stood up.
"I saw him picking nettles in the graveyard at midnight," she cried. "He must be a wizard!"
"Well, what do you say to that?" the judge asked Eitaro. But he just shook his head sadly. He could not speak to defend himself.

Then the Queen tried to speak for him. "He's innocent!" she insisted.
But the Archbishop had an answer for that. "He has bewitched the Queen," she told the court. "She doesn't know what she is saying."

The judge frowned. "I agree with the Archbishop," she said. "The boy is a wizard. He will be executed tomorrow."
The Queen was heartbroken, but the judge had made up her mind. There was nothing the Queen could do.

Eitaro was taken back to prison and locked in a tiny cell. "I'd nearly finished the dresses," he thought desperately, "but now I'll never see my sisters again!" He felt completely miserable.

Suddenly something fluttered against the window and a white swan feather drifted down. Eitaro looked up and saw Jozuna looking back.
His sisters had been searching for him ever since he disappeared. He smiled in spite of everything.

The door burst open, the tailor looked in. "You'll need some covers for tonight." She sneered. "The Queen asked me to give you these I hope you find them comfortable."
A bundle landed at Eitaro's feet, and the door slammed shut and Eitaro opened the bundle. Something green and bristly fell out.
It was the nettle kimonos!

"I mustn't give up!" Eitaro told himself. He held up the kimonos so Jozuna could see them. She bowed her head and then flew away.
"Perhaps she's gone to fetch the others." he thought.
The last kimono was still a pile of woven stems. Quickly, Eitaro is set to work again. He wove all night by dawn. He had made the bundle and wanted sleep and as he ran out of nettles.
"Oh no!" he cried.

"There wasn't even a stab left for the last sleeve.
"I just have to do it," Eitaro decided gathering the kimonos together. "I hope it works."

Minutes later there was a bang on the door, the guards had come to take him away. They led him outside still clutching the kimonos.
It's a sign, a huge crowd had gathered to see the execution before it could start, but there was a started murmur, and people began pointing at the sky. Eleven white swans were flying closer and closer.

The swans swooped down one by one, they swept past Eitaro so he could throw the kimonos over them.
The crowd gasped there was a shimmering in the air and then instead of the swans, there were eleven young women standing beside Eitaro at the same time.
Eitaro's chains turned into white roses and fell to the ground. The spell was finally broken and Eitaro could speak.

"Oh Jozuna," cried Eitaro, "you've still got a swan's wing!"
"I don't mind," she replied, giving him a big, feathery hug.
"I'm not a wizard," Eitaro told the people.

Then the Queen spoke. "I don't know what's going on here," she said. "but perhaps you can tell me at the wedding feast..."

"...if you still want to marry me?" she continued, turning shyly to Eitaro.
"Oh yes!" said Eitaro, smiling.
"And at this wedding," Jozuna put in, with a grin, "I'm going to make sure I get a real slice of cake!

—The End—