Once upon a time there were twelve royal children – eleven brothers and one older sister, Elisa.
Det var en gang tolv kongsbarn – elleve brødre og en storesøster. Hun het Elisa.
One day the mother died, and some time later the king married again. The new wife, however, was an evil witch.
En dag døde moren, og en stund senere giftet kongen seg på nytt. Men den nye konen var en ond heks.
She turned the eleven princes into swans and sent them far away to a distant land beyond the large forest.
Hun forhekset de elleve prinsene til svaner og sendte dem langt av gårde, til et fjernt land på den andre siden av den store skogen.
She dressed the girl in rags and smeared an ointment onto her face that turned her so ugly, that even her own father no longer recognized her and chased her out of the castle.