these are then thrown over the eleven swans, the spell will be broken. But
remember, that from the moment you commence your task until it is
finished, even should it occupy years of your life, you must not speak. The
first word you utter will pierce through the hearts of your brothers like a
deadly dagger. Their lives hang upon your tongue. Remember all I have told
you.” And as she finished speaking, she touched her hand lightly with the
nettle, and a pain, as of burning fire, awoke Eliza.
It was broad daylight, and close by where she had been sleeping lay a
nettle like the one she had seen in her dream. She fell on her knees and
offered her thanks to God. Then she went forth from the cave to begin her
work with her delicate hands. She groped in amongst the ugly nettles, which
burnt great blisters on her hands and arms, but she determined to bear it
gladly if she could only release her dear brothers. So she bruised the nettles
with her bare feet and spun the flax. At sunset her brothers returned and
were very much frightened when they found her dumb. They believed it to
be some new sorcery of their wicked step-mother. But when they saw her
hands they understood what she was doing on their behalf, and the youngest
brother wept, and where his tears fell the pain ceased, and the burning
blisters vanished. She kept to her work all night, for she could not rest till
she had released her dear brothers. During the whole of the following day,
while her brothers were absent, she sat in solitude, but never before had the
time flown so quickly. One coat was already finished and she had begun the
second, when she heard the huntsman’s horn, and was struck with fear. The
sound came nearer and nearer, she heard the dogs barking, and fled with
terror into the cave. She hastily bound together the nettles she had gathered
into a bundle and sat upon them. Immediately a great dog came bounding
towards her out of the ravine, and then another and another; they barked
loudly, ran back, and then came again. In a very few minutes all the
huntsmen stood before the cave, and the handsomest of them was the king
of the country. He advanced towards her, for he had never seen a more
beautiful maiden.
