The Wild Swans

The classic tale of fidelity and courage, witchcraft and true miracles, The Wild Swans has always stood apart all other Andersen's tales because of it's tense atmosphere and lots of horror moments. It is also often remembered as a truly Andersen-like: beautiful and kind princess Elisa is ordered mute by witchcraft (like The Little Mermaid), her eleven brothers are turned into swans and can be saved only by her knitting stinging nettle shirts for them. The young victim, bloody wounds, spells and signs of innocence, executions and strong religious notes - it is strange that the horror king Dario Argent still did not shoot a screen adaptation of "Swans"! Andersen himself liked motives of pretty young girls enchanted or engaged in fatal situations, he was a brilliant "victimizer" and poet of injustice.

The Seven Swans is ful of political, religious and social hints; different institutions are shown here as the something not quite trustworthy. So, the power of protagonists lie in their virtue and devoted to each other.

This wonderful tale can look harsher than most tales but it is also full of meaning and even today it is read with the same interest not only by children but also by many adults who find there numerous references to our contemporary reality.