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Swan maiden
The Swan Maiden is a mythical creature who shapeshifts from human form to swan form. Despite the name, males are found in a small number of legends. The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached.
Typical legend
The folktales usually adhere to the following basic plot. A young, unmarried man steals a magic robe made of swan feathers from a swan maiden so that she will not fly away, and winds up marrying her. Usually she bears his children. When the children are older they sing a song about where their father has hidden their mother's robe, or one asks why the mother always weeps, and finds the cloak for her, or they otherwise betray the secret. The swan maiden immediately gets her robe and disappears to where she came from. Although leaving the children may grieve her, she does not take them with her.
If the husband is able to find her again, it is an arduous quest, and often the impossibility is clear enough that he does not even try.
Animal wife motif
This is a common motif in folk tales across the world, though the animals vary. The Italian fairy tale "The Dove Girl" features a dove. There are Celtic selkies, which take seal shape. A Croatian tale features a she-wolf. In Africa, the same motif is shown through buffalo maidens. In East Asia, it is also known featuring maidens who transform into various bird species. In Russian fairy-tales there are also several characters, connected with the Swan-maiden. In Japanese mythology, it is a heavenly spirit, or Tennin, whose robe is stolen.
Another related tale is the Chinese myth of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, in which one of seven fairy sisters is taken as a wife by a cowherd who hid the seven sisters' robes; she becomes his wife because he sees her naked, and not so much due to his taking her robe.
There are also a number of Japanese stories about men who married kitsune, or fox spirits in human form (as women in these cases), though in these tales the wife's true identity is a secret even from her husband. She stays willingly until her husband discovers the truth, at which point she abandons him.
Fiction
The swan maiden has appeared in numerous items of fiction, starting with the ballet Swan Lake and continuing in modern novels of the fantasy genre such as Three Hearts and Three Lions. A notable recent appearance is of the swan-men in the Anita Blake series, including Kaspar Gunderson. They also called swan may or swanmay in fantasy fiction and Dungeons and Dragons.
"Swan_maiden." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Dec. 2007. <Reference.com [link]
The Swan Maiden is a mythical creature who shapeshifts from human form to swan form. Despite the name, males are found in a small number of legends. The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached.
Typical legend
The folktales usually adhere to the following basic plot. A young, unmarried man steals a magic robe made of swan feathers from a swan maiden so that she will not fly away, and winds up marrying her. Usually she bears his children. When the children are older they sing a song about where their father has hidden their mother's robe, or one asks why the mother always weeps, and finds the cloak for her, or they otherwise betray the secret. The swan maiden immediately gets her robe and disappears to where she came from. Although leaving the children may grieve her, she does not take them with her.
If the husband is able to find her again, it is an arduous quest, and often the impossibility is clear enough that he does not even try.
Animal wife motif
This is a common motif in folk tales across the world, though the animals vary. The Italian fairy tale "The Dove Girl" features a dove. There are Celtic selkies, which take seal shape. A Croatian tale features a she-wolf. In Africa, the same motif is shown through buffalo maidens. In East Asia, it is also known featuring maidens who transform into various bird species. In Russian fairy-tales there are also several characters, connected with the Swan-maiden. In Japanese mythology, it is a heavenly spirit, or Tennin, whose robe is stolen.
Another related tale is the Chinese myth of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, in which one of seven fairy sisters is taken as a wife by a cowherd who hid the seven sisters' robes; she becomes his wife because he sees her naked, and not so much due to his taking her robe.
There are also a number of Japanese stories about men who married kitsune, or fox spirits in human form (as women in these cases), though in these tales the wife's true identity is a secret even from her husband. She stays willingly until her husband discovers the truth, at which point she abandons him.
Fiction
The swan maiden has appeared in numerous items of fiction, starting with the ballet Swan Lake and continuing in modern novels of the fantasy genre such as Three Hearts and Three Lions. A notable recent appearance is of the swan-men in the Anita Blake series, including Kaspar Gunderson. They also called swan may or swanmay in fantasy fiction and Dungeons and Dragons.
"Swan_maiden." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Dec. 2007. <Reference.com [link]
Image size
3840x2928px 1.84 MB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon PowerShot A640
Shutter Speed
1/40 second
Aperture
F/2.8
Focal Length
7 mm
Date Taken
Dec 18, 2007, 8:06:47 AM
© 2007 - 2024 Dellessanna
Comments23
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Beautiful--love how you've wrapped the wire, and the composition of small and larger beads! <3