Free The Fairytale Keeper: Avenging the Queen by Andrea Cefalo Page B

father better than that. It is a wicked thought, but the more I try to ban it from my mind, the more present it is.
    So she offers to share my bed with me and I agree. Perhaps Father shall return to his own bed tonight if he knows I shall not be in it.

14 March, 1247
     
The poor girl thought, "I can no longer stay here. I will go and look for my brothers."
     
And when night came she ran away and went straight into the woods. She walked the whole night long without stopping, and the next day as well, until she was too tired to walk anymore.
     
The sun was about to go down when she heard a rushing sound and saw six swans fly in…. The swans blew on one another, and blew all their feathers off. Then their swan-skins came off just like shirts. The girl looked at them and recognized her brothers. She was happy ….The brothers were no less happy to see their little sister, but their happiness did not last long.
     
"You cannot stay here," they said to her.
     
"Can’t you protect me?" asked the little sister.
     
"No," they answered. "We can take off our swan-skins for only a quarter hour each evening. Only during that time do we have our human forms. After that we are again transformed into swans."
     
Crying, the little sister said, "Can you not be redeemed?"
     
"Alas, no," they answered. "The conditions are too difficult. You would not be allowed to speak or to laugh for six years, and in that time you would have to sew together six little shirts from asters for us. And if a single word were to come from your mouth, all your work would be lost."
     
After the brothers had said this, the quarter hour was over, and they flew out the window again as swans.
     
Nevertheless, the girl firmly resolved to redeem her brothers, even if it should cost her her life.
     
-The Six Swans
     
    ***
     
    Galadriel rises, but is still half asleep. My neck is strained from sharing the bed and I can sleep no more. I convince her to sleep longer and promise we’ll go to the market when she rises.
    I make the porridge and take a bowl to Father, who is still awake in his workshop. The Aducht shoes are all finished. The shoes are finely crafted and he had even added gold and silver embroidery to each of the ladies’ shoes and lined the seams of Wilthelm’s shoes with the same threading. I’m sure the only man with nicer shoes in Cologne would be the Archbishop himself.
    Father leaves for the Aducht’s to deliver their shoes and collect the rest of his payment. I quickly lace the last few unfinished shoes that he shall sell at the market.
    The market is busiest in the morning. Waiting for Father to return would cost us a few coins and being gone from the market for nearly a week has surely cost us many. Thank God the Aduchts had placed such a large order to see us through without relying on Father’s now meager savings.
    I suppose I could just take his cart and set up the stand myself, but it is nine o’clock now.  The streets shall be busy. Vagabonds could easily overwhelm me and steal our wares, disappearing into the crowds before any one of the thieves could be caught. Such things have happened before, even though the people of Cologne do not take kindly to thieves. Still, it is better to miss a few sales than to have all of our shoes stolen.
    Galadriel wakes shortly after me, dresses, and breaks her fast as we wait for Father to return.
    After helping Father set up his booth at the market, I take Galadriel for her tour. It is busy, but I have seen mornings with crowds packed shoulder-to-shoulder like herded sheep. We reach the potters first and an elderly woman with rheumatism begs by their stands. Galadriel drops a pfennig in the old woman’s palm before I can warn her and not a moment passes before we are surround by beggars. Galadriel gives them each a pfennig and they are quickly on their way. An embarrassed blush rises to my cheeks. Giving a pfennig away at the market was a foreigner’s error. It is a good thing we don’t care