The 12 Wild Swans
About our Spoken Story Series
Because of the needs of this time —when our normal outgoing lives have changed, ONE is offering a series of told stories for your enjoyment, healing, unwinding, and for you to lean into the ancestral wisdom passed through tales, myths, and legends.
Our storyteller, April Thanhauser, is a member of the ONE visioning council and a life-long lover of folk and fairy tales. She tells us:
“Stories, like hearth fires and campfires have always brought people together —for sharing wisdom, laughter, tears, and comfort. No matter where our people came from, stories are part of our heritage. The traditional tales I will be telling originate from many different parts of the world, but please accept them as a gift from the old ones of our shared human culture.”
About this Episode
Because of a Queen’s careless words, her 12 sons are magically transformed into wild swans upon the birth of her only daughter.
When the princess, Rose, uncovers the secret of her lost brothers, she embarks on a journey to find them, vowing to undo their enchantment. Her quest relies upon the help of wise elders, the length of the summer Solstice days, the guidance of dreams, the potency of nettles, and her own innocence, persistence, and skill in handwork.
In case you’ve ever wondered, one can indeed make fine clothing from nettle fiber, journey through lands of enchantment, dream true dreams, and aid in the undoing of bad spells for the sake of one’s family. Though none of these may be easy.
But now, please be at ease and enjoy this story on one of the coming long summer days or short shining nights (or the other way round in the Southern hemisphere). Have a beautiful Solstice time!
This story is one of many similar traditional tales from Northern Europe. The version here owes special thanks to Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Wild Swans” and to Star Hawk’s telling in Circle Round.
Listen to other Stories:
Thomas the Rhymer, in honor of Beltane, the magical cross-quarter day and joyful spring festival of the Celtic Year, we offer the story of “Thomas the Rhymer.”
“East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, is a Northern story of a girl who must save an enchanted prince.
“The Magic Hummingbird”, tells the story of a drought, a famine, two children, and a magical hummingbird.
“The Wonderful Healing Leaves”, tells the story of an unlikely hero who must secure healing leaves for the king from the land of no return.
“Xueda and Yinlin”, tells the adventures of two courageous young people who seek a cure for the mysterious illness which has stricken their village.
"Picking Mountain Pears", a traditional Japanese folktale, tells the adventures of three brothers who undertake a quest for the mountain pears to help their beloved mother heal from a mysterious illness.
