2
A tremendous quacking and splashing broke
out on the surface of the water. He thought that it
was the swan laughing at him. Taking no notice he
made his way through the darkening woods to his
car, wrapped himself up in the rug and went to
sleep.
When he awoke it was morning and the birds
were beginning to call. Coming along
the track towards him was the most beautiful
creature he had ever seen, with eyes as blue-green
as the canal, hair as dusky as the bushes, and skin
as white as the feathers of swans.
"Are you the wife that I wished for?" asked
Mr. Peters.
"Yes I am," she replied. "My name is Leita."
She stepped into the car beside him and they
drove off to the church on the outskirts of the
forest, where they were married. Then he took her
to his house in a remote and lovely valley and
showed her all his treasures-the bees in their white
hives, the Jersey cows, the hyacinths, the silver
candlesticks, the blue cups and the lustre bowl for
putting primroses in. She admired everything, but
what pleased her most was the river which ran by
the foot of his garden.
"Do swans come up here?" she asked. "Yes, I
have often seen swans there on the river," he
told her, and she smiled.
Leita made him a good wife. She was gentle
and friendly, busied herself about the house
garden, polished the bowls, milked the cows and
mended his socks. But as time went by Mr.
Peters began to feel that she was not happy. She
seemed restless, wandered much in the garden,
and sometimes when he came back from the
fields he would find the house empty and she
would only return after half an hour or so with
no explanation of where she had been. On these
occasions she was always especially tender and
would put out his slippers to warm and cook his
favorite dish-Welsh rarebit with wild
strawberries-for supper.
One
evening he was returning
home along
the river path when he saw Leita in front of him,
down by the water. A swan had sailed up to the
verge and she had her arms round its neck and
the swan's head rested against her cheek. She was
weeping, and as he came nearer he saw that tears
were rolling, too, from the swan's eyes.
"Leita, what is it?" he asked, very troubled.
"This is my sister," she answered. "I can't
bear being separated from her."
Now he understood that Leita was really a
swan from the forest, and this made him very sad
because when a human being marries a bird it
always leads to sorrow.
"I could use my second wish to give your
sister
human shape, so that she could be a companion to
you," he suggested.
""No,
no," she cried, "I couldn't ask that of
her."
"Is it so very hard to be a human being?"
asked Mr. Peters sadly.
"Very, very hard," she answered.
"Don't you love me at all, Leita?"
"Yes, I do, I do love you," she said, and there
were tears in her eyes again. "But I miss the old life
in the forest, the cool grass and the mist rising off
the river at sunrise and the feel of the water sliding
over my feathers as my sister and
I drifted along the stream."
"Then shall I use my second wish to turn you
back into a swan again?" he asked, and his tongue
pricked to remind him of the old King's words, and
his heart swelled with grief inside him.
"Who would darn your socks and cook your
meals and see to the hens?"
"I'd do it myself as I did before I married
you," he said, trying to sound cheerful.
She shook her head. "No, I could not be as
unkind to you as that. I am partly a swan, but I am
also partly a human being now. I will stay with
you."
Poor Mr. Peters was very distressed on his wife's
account and did his best to make her life happier,
taking her for drives in the car, finding beautiful
music for her to listen to on the radio, buying
clothes for her and even suggesting a trip round the
world. But she said no to that; she would prefer to
stay in their own house near the river.
He noticed that she spent more and more time
baking wonderful cakes-jam puffs, petits fours,