Summary

In the city in which this story is set there lives a prince whose right arm is in the form of a swan's wing. Earlier he and his brothers had been turned into swans by their stepmother who did not relish the task of raising twelve adolescent boys who were not hers to begin with. She did not cast the spell on the thirteenth child, the princess, because she was a girl and she therefore felt more of a bond with her, but attempts to bond with the girl were in vain.

The boys/swans went to live out at sea and were able to return to their home once a year but the visits were not greatly anticipated due to their being swans rather than boys. After many years, the spell was broken by the princess who had learned from a...